State Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology
The Board-Member Profile

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Board Member Profiles

Click on the name of each board member to view his/her profile below.

Rosario Rodriguez Brusniak
Patricia Elaine Brannon
Richard J. Caldwell
Vickie B. Dionne
Matthew H. Lyon
Kerry Ormson, Ed. D.
Vacant
Sonia Salinas
Minnette Son, M.D.

SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY REPRESENTATIVES

ROSARIO RODRIGUEZ BRUSNIAK
Mrs. Rosario Rodriguez Brusniak, M.A., CCC-SLP, received both her undergraduate (B.A.) and graduate degrees (M.A.) in Communication Disorders from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas, and has been practicing as a speech and language pathologist (SLP) for over 30 years. She briefly attended the University of Texas at Dallas for post graduate doctoral studies in Communication Disorders. Mrs. Brusniak currently serves as lead speech and language pathologist for bilingual SLPs in the Plano Independent School District (PISD) as well as a school based bilingual speech and language pathologist at Mendenhall Elementary, with a large Hispanic bilingual population. In addition to her responsibilities for her school caseload, Mrs. Brusniak serves as the bilingual speech and language assessment specialist for elementary Spanish bilingual referrals and will begin to function as one of two SLPs on the PISD Traumatic Brain Injury assessment team. Mrs. Brusniak is a home grown Texas, who was born in Laredo, Texas, and then moved early in her life to San Antonio, where she completed her university training before moving to work in Fairfax County Public Schools, just after completing her Clinical Fellowship Year in San Antonio at the Harry Jersig Speech and Hearing Center. Missing Texas and her family, she returned to Texas in 1977. She has extensive experience with school age speech and language impaired students from PPCD to high school, having worked at all levels within the public schools. In addition to her school experience, Mrs. Brusniak briefly served as Clinical Coordinator and Clinical Instructor for Texas Women's University in Denton, Texas, in the Department of Communication Sciences, where she taught in the department and supervised graduate students in speech pathology. Mrs. Brusniak has been active in the Texas Speech Hearing Language Association (TSHA) since the 1970s and is currently serving as Vice President for Public Information and Marketing for TSHA. Mrs. Brusniak also holds Texas teacher certification in Language and Learning Disabilities, Generic Special Education, Bilingual Education, and English as a Second Language. Mrs. Brusniak also conducts workshops for SLPs, as well as ESL and Bilingual teachers dealing with the challenges of identifying and working with bilingual communicatively handicapped students. Mrs. Brusniak currently lives in Plano, Texas, and is the proud mother of three adult children: Stephen, Joseph, and Denise Brusniak.

PATRICIA ELAINE BRANNON
Patricia Elaine Brannon of San Antonio is a program coordinator for children with communication disorders with the Northside Independent School District.  She is a member of the San Antonio, Texas and American Speech-Language and Hearing associations.  Brannon is also a member of the Texas Computer Education Association.  She volunteers with Habitat for Humanity, the San Antonio Conservation Society and is a former Girl Scout and Boy Scout leader for special needs children.  Brannon is a former adjunct professor of graduate school at Our Lady of the Lake University's Harry Jersig Center for Communication Disorders.  Brannon received a bachelor’s degree in speech pathology from the University of Arkansas and a master’s degree in speech pathology from the University of Texas at Dallas.

VICKIE B. DIONNE, Au.D.
Dr. Vickie B. Dionne of Nederland is a clinical audiologist and is an assistant professor at Lamar University.  She is a fellow of the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association, the Texas Academy of Audiologists and the American Academy of Audiologists.  Dionne is a legislative representative of the Nederland High School and the Nederland City Council Parent Teacher associations, and is a board member of the Nederland Education Foundation.  She received a bachelor’s degree in speech communication and a master’s degree in audiology from Lamar University.  Dionne earned a doctor of audiology from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry School of Audiology and is licensed by the State of Texas in audiology and hearing aid dispensing.

SONYA SALINAS
Sonya Salinas of Mission is the undergraduate program coordinator, a lecturer and clinical supervisor of the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department of the College of Health Sciences and Human Services at the University of Texas-Pan American.  She is a member of the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association and the Texas Speech and Hearing Association, where she serves on various committees.  Salinas is the president and founder of a new chapter of the Valley Network of Speech Pathologists and Audiologists.  She received a bachelor’s degree in speech and hearing and a master’s degree in communication disorders from the University of Texas-Pan American.

AUDIOLOGY REPRESENTATIVES

MATTHEW H. LYON
Matthew H. Lyon was appointed to the Board by Governor George W. Bush on February 25, 2000, for a term to expire August 31, 2005. He is married to Kerry Hartman Lyon, also an audiologist, and they have four children. Mr. Lyon received a master's degree in audiology from New Mexico State University, began dispensing hearing instruments in 1982, and practicing audiology in 1988. Mr. Lyon is the president of El Paso Hearing Aid Center, Inc. which owns and operates El Paso Hearing Aid & Audiology Center, Southwest Hearing Services, and Las Cruces Hearing Center. He is active in civic organizations and his church. He also serves on the board of directors for the Boy Scouts of America Yucca Council.

KERRY ORMSON, ED. D. More information coming soon!

PUBLIC MEMBER REPRESENTATIVES

RICHARD J. CALDWELL
Dick Caldwell was appointed to the Board by Governor Rick Perry on April 8, 2004 for a term to expire August 31, 2009. He earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Missouri and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Kansas. He has been helping entrepreneurial businesses through his CPA practice in west Houston since 1981. He has worn hearing aids most of his life and has used the services of both audiologists and speech language pathologists for many years. He attended the 2003 Self Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH) national leadership conference, is active in the Houston SHHH chapter, and has participated with his saintly bride in television programs discussing assistive listening devices and telecoils. He is honored to be serving the citizens of Texas as a public member and believes his background brings a comprehensive user perspective to the board.

Vacant

PHYSICIAN PUBLIC MEMBER REPRESENTATIVE

MINNETTE SON, M.D.
Dr. Minnette Son was appointed by Governor Rick Perry on September 1, 2002 for a term to end on August 31, 2007. Dr. Son, a native of Forth Worth, received a Bachelor of Science in Education from Baylor University. Following the completion of a Masters in Language Sciences at the Speech and Hearing Institute under Dr. Tina Bangs, at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, she practiced Speech Pathology in a variety of settings for eight years. She enrolled in the Medical School of the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio in 1986 where she received her MD in 1990, and completed her general pediatric residency in 1993. She subsequently continued training in the area of pediatric critical care medicine. Dr. Son has served on the faculty at UTHSCSA for twelve years and currently is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and serves as Medical Director of the Janey Briscoe Children’s Center of University Hospital. Certified by the American Board of Pediatrics in Pediatrics and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Dr. Son is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha, national medical honor society. Her research interests include traumatic brain injury and child abuse.

Last Updated February 22, 2007