Jason Fornwald

Jason Fornwald, Ed. S, MS, CCC-SLP, graduated from Austin Community College (ACC) in 1994.  Jason was recruited to play baseball at ACC in 1992 after playing for his hometown in Lampman, Saskatchewan. He went on to Mankato State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Communication Disorders and a Master of Science in Speech Language Pathology. He then completed his Specialist Degree in Educational Leadership from Minnesota State University - Mankato. 

Jason has worked as a Speech Language Pathologist in an education setting for 25 years. He served as the Coordinator of Assistive Technology in Albert Lea Area Schools before joining the faculty of the University of South Dakota in 2021 where he serves as a Clinical Instructor.

Jason has a special passion for treating those with Social-Communication disorders. He developed and implemented a Summer Social-Communication Camp that provides speech language therapy for adolescents with social communication deficits and then challenges those clients to use those skills in the community during engaging field trips.  Jason is a member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and serves as Vice-President of Speech Language Pathology for the South Dakota Speech-Language-Hearing Association (SDSLHA). 

In addition to his professional aspirations to help people communicate, he also has given back to the community through a hockey and baseball coaching career that spans decades of guiding young men and women to excel in athletics.

Jason says, “I was a nervous 17-year-old college kid, who took the risk of moving a thousand miles away from home to live in another country where I didn't know a single person other than Coach Dave Lillemon.  Thankfully, Coach Lillemon decided to take a chance on a scrawny, undersized ball player from north of the border. 

I can proudly say that it was the greatest decision of my life to leave home, come to Austin and begin my educational and professional journey. 

As a result of that decision, I have now become a US Citizen, married the most amazing woman in the world who has provided our family with 3 amazing children, Dirk (19), Sydney (18) and Camille (14) and work at my dream job at the University of South Dakota.”