Category: Uncategorized

Monica Silva

Note: This blog post was written as part of an optional assignment for Junior Year Writing, instructor Rebecca Stachowicz.

Born and raised on Long Island with family roots in Cali, Colombia, it took me a while to want to learn more about my cultural background. I used to be embarrassed that I didn’t look like my peers. I would reject my parents’ music (in hindsight, I was missing out on so much tasteful música tropical), and I would never ask questions about our heritage, all out of fear of being different.

Children with any sort of speech delay or impediment already fear drawing attention to themselves. Add to the equation that their culture and native language is different from that of their peers. With 19% of the population in the United States identifying as Hispanic/Latino and only 6% of SLPs in the United States identifying as Hispanic/Latino, it is not realistic for families to believe they will find an SLP who understands the values and concerns specific to their culture and language. Neglecting these qualities can make it even more difficult for children to feel seen, heard, and supported through a critical period of their development.

Speech Language Pathology has become my dream career, not only because I cannot imagine being this passionate about anything else, but also because I want things to change. It has become increasingly important to me to be the Latina Speech Therapist that a Hispanic/Latino child can be themselves around. Maybe I can be someone they look up to, just as I’ve looked up to the amazing people who have mentored and inspired me on my path to becoming an SLP.

I want a future where we don’t just embrace others and their cultures, but one where more of us are able to embrace our true selves without fear of judgement. Otherwise, we are only doing half the work. It is crucial for us to respect and honor the client’s cultural background. But how can we fully understand culture’s importance in their lives without understanding its importance in our own? I don’t know who I would be now if I continued to feed the self hatred from my childhood. Now, as a proud Latina, raised by a wonderful Colombian family, I am grateful to have been immersed in our rich and lively culture. I’m also grateful that my identity has helped me connect more deeply with the Hispanic/Latino community as a whole. As a future SLP, I am excited to extend the love and resilience of the Hispanic/Latino community to my clients, so they can see how rewarding it is to welcome their whole selves.

References

Latinos in the U.S. | Data on U.S. Hispanics | Pew Research Center

ASHA 2021 Member and Affiliate Profile

Putting the Spotlight on Racial Disparity in Speech Therapy | Speech Language Pathology

Jennifer Morani, Maria Alejandra Meneses

Note: This blog post was written as part of an optional assignment for Junior Year Writing, instructor Arwa Najmi.

Working in the Bilingual Language Lab and being a part of an underrepresented population (Latina Community) gave us a first-hand opportunity to identify one disparity in this field. Our field of Speech Language Pathology faces disparities due to its predominantly white population of workers, with 92% identifying as white, as ASHA reported, which can impact the quality of care for individuals from different backgrounds. There are only a few workers of different races, like Hispanics or African Americans.

This lack of diversity within the profession can lead to biases in assessment and treatment. It is crucial for SLPs to be culturally competent and aware of their own biases. Our lab focuses on making sure Hispanic children are represented in our field and can be seen and understood. We have experience working with many different children, both who speak English and Spanish. Most tests used for diagnosing children with speech disorders are made for English-speaking children. Still, these tests are given to children whose primary language is not English, which can lead to overdiagnosis. People in this field need to be aware of these disparities so that we are able to treat all patients equally and make sure they are getting the correct care that fits their specific needs.

In an article “Bridging the Gap: Advocating for Underrepresented Minorities in Speech Language Pathology,” by Brooke Love, she mentions a situation about a child who is considered to be in the minority who has found comfort in seeing other SLPs who are similar to him.“I got to see a speech-language pathologist who looks like me,” Carter said “One of my goals is to be a bilingual therapist and speak Spanish,” Carter said. “It was hard thinking, ‘Let me go into this profession where a lot of the students don’t look like me,’ but I felt like it was a critical need to be a black SLP who wants to work with patients who are bilingual.”

As students in this field, it can be difficult to see that your race or culture is underrepresented, and it can lead you to stay away from that field due to feeling like an outlier or being different. It is important to be different and stand up for what you want, even if others are not doing so yet; you can always be the one who encourages others to join in. We encourage more people who are from different populations to follow the Speech Language Pathology path so we can cover and help more children who need YOU.

References:
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2019, July). A demographic snapshot of SLPs: Data highlight some key characteristics of ASHA’s SLP members. The ASHA Leader, 24(7), 32. https://doi.org/10.1044/leader.AAG.24072019.32

Poindexter, E. (2019, November 1). Bridging the gap: Advocating for underrepresented minorities in speech-language pathology. UNC School of Medicine, Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences.
https://www.med.unc.edu/healthsciences/sphs/2019/11/bridging-the-gap-advocating-for-underrepresented-minorities-in-speech-language-pathology/

Upon the recommendation of Megan Gross and Lisa Sommers, our department sponsored a performance of Mother Tongue by The Performance Project’s First Generation Ensemble. The performance took place on September 28^th at the Bowker Auditorium, and several of our students and faculty attended.¹

Here we are highlighting the performance with the thoughtful and insightful responses and reflections of our students:

Xiangping Li:

The performers in Mother Tongue powerfully portrayed the challenges faced by first-generation immigrants from various countries who come to the United States. Some arrived with hopes of pursuing freedom and equality, only to find themselves living in fear due to their darker skin color. Others experienced alienation and isolation because of cultural and language barriers, struggling to find their place in the vast landscape of America. Some fought to define their gender identity on their own terms, rather than allowing others or their parents to decide it for them, yet they still faced misunderstanding, doubt, and mockery from those around them.

Through their performances, the actors illustrated the harsh realities of survival for first-generation immigrants, highlighting their struggles and aspirations. The small stage served as a window for the audience, including myself, to glimpse diverse cultures and life experiences. The challenges these immigrants face are not merely personal; they reflect deeper issues within American society. Due to a lack of accumulated cultural and material resources compared to long-established residents, first-generation immigrants often feel more vulnerable and lost in the face of these challenges.

This play served as a powerful reminder that much of the world’s misunderstanding and suffering arises from our failure to listen to others. I am grateful to the performers for their heartfelt efforts to raise awareness and break down the barriers of indifference related to race, gender, language, and culture. They succeeded in moving the audience, who responded with enthusiastic applause and heartfelt tears.

As a new immigrant myself, some of the stories depicted on stage resonated deeply with me. During my first few years in the U.S., while working at a pharmacy, I experienced discrimination from customers on two occasions. They told me I should be ashamed of my accented English and that I should go back to my country. I’m thankful that my manager and colleagues immediately stood up against this behavior, offering their strong support. I truly appreciate the impact of this play and hope these stories can be shared with a wider audience.

Madeline Peck:

Sitting in the audience at the performance of Mother Tongue felt like a passage to another world– an hour and a half suspended in time in which all that existed were the storytellers and the stories they entrusted with us. It wasn’t just a theater performance, it was a call to action. A call to not just listen to the youth, but to elevate, celebrate, and honor young people and their strength and wisdom. It made me think about the power of language and story amidst the heartbreak of being a human in a profoundly unjust world. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to receive these stories and witness these performers’ power. I hope to continue to embrace the transformation and personal revolution inspired by their artistry so it may influence my work in the world going forward.

Kim Moïse:

First Generation’s performance of Mother Tongue was unlike anything I’ve seen before. Every person’s stories were so unique and yet interwoven beautifully. Two stories really stuck with me: the story of a young woman losing her language, and the story of two people seeing each other as the one to be scared of, rather than the one that’s scared. I watched Mother Tongue through the lens of a first-generation American and first-generation college student. Growing up in a context where a native language began to fade felt like a profound loss, creating a sense of cultural isolation. Navigating life in an English-dominant environment, and the challenge of balancing identity with the expectations of multiple cultures quickly became disappointing and exhausting, expressed intimately in the performance. Additionally, the dynamic of being scared of those who may harbor their own fears about you—particularly in a racially charged environment—adds another layer of complexity. As a Black individual in predominantly white spaces, the reality is that my presence can evoke apprehension or stereotypes in others. Simultaneously, I can find myself uncertain of perceptions and intentions. So this shared fear/anxiety can create a barrier to genuine connection, reinforcing feelings of isolation that are captured in the performance as well. Overall, Mother Tongue invited me, and hopefully the rest of us, to reflect on these tensions and consider the possibility of dialogue and understanding. It’s a call to recognize that while language and cultural background shape our experiences, they don’t define us entirely. The performance emphasizes the importance of embracing vulnerability by sharing stories and reclaiming identities. It emphasized that my story isn’t just my own, but rather one that resonates with many who navigate similar challenges. The performance is truly a great piece of art that I’d encourage anyone to see.

1. Mother Tongue is an original multilingual physical theater performance created by the Performance Project’s First Generation Ensemble. “Mother Tongue” is inspired by the experiences of the ensemble members, their families and communities who are from Congo/Tanzania, Bhutan/Nepal, South Sudan/Darfur, Holyoke, and Springfield, Massachusetts. 
   The 90-minute performance weaves together movement, music, dance, and stories in Arabic, Swahili, Nepali, Spanish, and English. “Mother Tongue” incorporates themes of language, culture, identity, diaspora, hypermasculinity, transphobia, racism, the school to prison pipeline, and revolution. 
   Appropriate for ages 12 and up. ↩︎

I remember when Jo and I took a pandemic walk in 2021, and she brought up an idea she had toyed with over winter break. She was thinking about having some kind of ASL (American Sign Language) learning and conversation group in our Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. As we made our way along a forest trail, we talked about our inability to communicate directly with our colleague Dana. Dana is a Deaf faculty member in our department who is a native signer, and I too had lamented the fact that I could not communicate better with her. Over the next weeks we kept talking about how useful it would be to learn ASL to be able to communicate with our colleague, our clients, and a whole community of signers. Thus an idea was born.

Jo had done some background work and found a video teaching series online in which a Deaf teacher of ASL goes through various lessons for self teaching (www.lifeprint.com). This would be a great support to a conversation group in our department without putting Dana in the position of having to teach us. We brought up the idea to her of having an informal weekly ASL conversation meeting for our department. To our delight, Dana was thrilled about the concept and wanted to be involved as a leader/teacher of ASL. Once we had a rough plan pulled together, we approached our department chair, who was very supportive and had been thinking along the same lines as she worked with the faculty to map out our departmental strategic plan. She created a committee that allowed this effort to fulfill Dana’s service work.

Since then, several of the faculty have met to learn and converse in ASL. And, for my part, I have had the time of my life and have rarely laughed so much. In faculty meetings, it is rare to have eye contact with Dana because she is intently watching the interpreter on her computer screen in order not to miss anything said in the meeting. (I sometimes find myself getting distracted from the meeting myself by trying to follow the interpreter’s translation.) But in our ASL groups, without the need for an interpreter, Dana comes alive.

Dana is a wonderful teacher and communicator, acting out any and all concepts with infectious enthusiasm and energy. She has shown us that ASL is a rich and descriptive language expressed with the whole body and face in addition to the hands. Facial expressions underscore the emotion/mood underlying all communication (for example the shape of the eyebrows indicate the kind of question–lowered for yes-no questions, raised for open-ended questions). Being a more introverted person, this kind of “acting out” has been difficult for me but is teaching me to show a little vulnerability in order to better get a message across. And despite my arthritic fingers, when I cannot get it across, there is always finger spelling to say a word or phrase.

As with any language I learn, the more I learn, the more confident I feel and the more I try to mentally express my thoughts in that language. But it takes consistent practice to keep the skills. When I recently ran into a former student who is a fluent signer with her Deaf parents, I was able to sign to them that I was happy to see them and that I am learning some ASL to add to my repertoire of rudimentary languages.

Tomma Henckel with Jo Shackelford and Dana Hoover – (photos by Jo)

Marci:

I have had the privilege of being one of the participants in the first class of the Multiculturalism Certificate as part of my Master’s in Speech-Language Pathology. I don’t think I can put into words how meaningful and transformative this certificate process has been. I have grown so much as an aspiring clinician and as a person through this process. 

For me personally, one of the most meaningful facets of the Multiculturalism Certificate has been the clinical journal entries. As part of the Multiculturalism Certificate requirements, we have been tasked with writing a weekly journal entry about our clinical experiences relating to multiculturalism in a broad sense. I have found myself mentally flagging experiences during the day, thinking to myself that this would be a good interaction to unpack in a journal entry or an experience/interaction related to a multicultural issue really bothered me for some reason so I need to examine that in a journal entry to figure out why. I’ve been building a list of experiences that warrant further exploration. Some experiences I have chosen to write about immediately, whereas others I wait for a few weeks or even months. Sometimes, I have found that distance from these experiences has better equipped me to examine that experience and learn from it. I don’t know what it is, but there has been something so powerful in unpacking clinical interactions and multicultural issues that come up in clinical practice in a journal entry that makes me better understand the client and myself. I usually learn a valuable life lesson that I want to apply moving forward when working with various populations. 

I think that the most valuable part of this clinical journal entry experience has been the interactions that I’ve had with my paired faculty advisor. Each of us in the Multicultural Certificate has been paired with a faculty member who reads our journal entries and responds to us about our entries. Having this dialogue with a highly seasoned clinician has helped me look at these interactions that I have struggled with from a different perspective. While journaling and self-reflection are invaluable tools, I have found that I get stuck at times, and there is a lot I don’t know that can help further my growth as an aspiring clinician and person. Tomma’s guidance has helped spur this growth so much more quickly and from another perspective. She helps me see that I am not the only one with these blind spots and helps me to forgive myself when I make a “mistake” from a multicultural perspective. I feel like my journal entries are a safe space where I can unpack areas I am struggling with that I am not comfortable to do so elsewhere.

Tomma:

When we thought up and developed the multicultural certificate program, it was clear that we needed to incorporate a significant clinical aspect for our students. One way to ensure that they were getting the most out of their clinical experiences with a variety of populations was to ask them to reflect on their experiences from a multicultural perspective, to reflect on their individual interactions, their responses (internal and external) and to process what they experienced and what they learned from these interactions and experiences. Thus we instituted weekly journal entries, each one analyzing an interaction with a different kind of patient/client.

When I was tasked with reading and discussing the students’ journal entries, I was excited and really looking forward to finding out what they were getting out of their clinical experiences, these journal assignments in particular, and the multicultural certificate in general. But reading Marci’s journal entries exceeded any of my expectations of what this process would look like. She approached each of her client interactions with an open-mindedness and selfless vulnerability that was heartwarming. It was clear with the progression of her journal entries that she took any and all of the thoughts and discussions to heart for future clinical interactions.

Life and lives are made up of stories; and each individual journal entry was a story in itself. Marci always reflected on her role in the story and on how she could make (or could have made) it a better story for her clients. The only part I had to caution her about in this process is that she not forget herself in these interactions. It is important to not be too self critical, to care for yourself and keep in mind that you are human and always learning. It is ok to seek help and you must forgive yourself when you do feel that you have made a “mistake”. Learn from it and move on, that’s what this multicultural certificate experience should be about.

(and every other time)

It is always a good idea to adhere to these communication strategies, especially when communicating with folks with hearing loss or language impairment. The upcoming holidays present a particularly important time to apply them when conversing with friends and family.

Do you have any additional suggestions? If yes, please put them in the comments section!

My father has been a professional chef my entire life. One Thursday night, he was running the line at the restaurant and began to develop a headache and fever but continued going through the motions at work. This is the information he knows from asking coworkers, since he does not remember anything once the symptoms began. After a weekend of developing increasing symptoms, he had a coworker drive him to the emergency room. That Sunday night in hospital triage, nurses and doctors saw a Mexican American man walk into the emergency room in a sickly, disoriented state, presumed he was overdosing on drugs, and left him in the waiting room as a problem to deal with later. Also at this point, the hospital contacted his emergency contact but to no avail; the contact was escorted out of the hospital after seeing my father in this condition and giving the hospital personnel a piece of his mind. After more than five hours in the waiting room, and dipping in and out of consciousness, my father was finally admitted into the emergency room. As the doctor was asking questions to determine a diagnosis, my father just stared at the doctor with a blank face. After realizing their terrible mistake, doctors put him in a medically induced coma, diagnosed him with and treated him for meningitis and he awoke three days later. Soon after, it was realized that he had lost his ability to hear due to the meningitis. Since then, my dad has received, top-tier, audiological care and thrives with a cochlear implant, and I have developed a love for audiology.

There is also a video from when I was an undergraduate student. I interviewed my Dad for a project about meningitis and hearing loss and in it he explains his story and his experience a little bit more.

Sofia Macias

In November 2022, some of our graduate students in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences (then Communication Disorders) participated in Holyoke High School’s “You Can Be Anything You Want to Be” Career Day held in partnership with the United States Attorney’s Office District of Massachusetts as part of the Department of Justice’s nationwide Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative. You may have seen the story about this in our school’s newsletter:

https://www.umass.edu/public-health-sciences/news/inspiration-high-school-career-day

It gives a nice description and summary of the event and is well worth reading. But here I want to present the students’ voices in their entirety along with some more photos from the event:

“We were invited to present at Holyoke High School at the “You can be anything you want day,” where students learned about different career opportunities. The activity consisted of doing a short presentation for seven groups of students. After explaining to the students our role in the medical field, we presented a brief case study. They collaborated with us in identifying the treatment, tools, and professionals we would need to assess and treat the person described in the case. Students were engaged in the activity, and some were asking questions regarding the cases and how to become speech-language pathologists or audiologists. I hope these activities keep happening in the community so we can increase diversity in our field.”  – Ada Lopes Gonzalez, Ph.D. student, SLP

“Although this past November was my first time being at Holyoke High School, there was a sense of familiarity in being there. Holyoke’s demographic is made up of low-income families and has a large Hispanic/Latino population. 

Fortunately, and to my surprise, there were at least a handful of students who seemed interested in both speech language pathology and audiology— although many didn’t know what the fields entailed to begin with. 

Although us as grad students were there for the high school students, it was encouraging and inspiring for me personally to see a new group of young minds interested in fields that are often overlooked or generally unknown. I also discovered the field of audiology in high school, but didn’t see many professionals who looked like me. My hope in being there is that the students were further encouraged to pursue interests with a sense of inclusion and purpose.” – Kimberlee Moïse, Au.D. student

“From this outreach event I learned that not many high schoolers have an idea of what communication disorders is and how professionals in these fields serve as healthcare professionals. I could see many students were surprised and intrigued by both audiology and speech pathology. As an audiology student, this experience gave me the opportunity to be a career educator for the day. Communication disorders is a field that is rapidly growing and always in need of new professionals. Through talking about both audiology and speech pathology, I grew in my public speaking skills and my ability to communicate about the ins-and-outs of how important our role is to the community. I discovered the field when I was still in high school and so hope that we were able to ignite that excitement in the students who attended the “You Can Be Anything You Want to Be” career event.” – Anna-Maria D’Ambra, Au.D. student

Sometimes, I feel that pieces of Black history that happen close to home can be easily missed, especially by white people (including me) at that community level. In our UMass community, Dr. John Bracey was described as a pillar of the department of Afro-American Studies, and a passionate mentor. As the founder of the department, he also helped to initiate the certificate in Afro-American Studies.

In light of Dr. Bracey’s recent passing, I’d like to ask that the Comm-Dis department and UMass more widely support the Afro-American Studies Department as they go through this period of mourning. If you know anyone connected to the department and feel comfortable, let them know you can be someone they can come to.

Please take a moment to acknowledge his work and impact: https://www.umass.edu/news/article/memoriam-john-bracey-jr

I’d also like to share one of his most recent projects, part of a long line of innovative projects and initiatives for furthering Black scholarship and presence at UMass. This series of interviews was conducted with his students and documents Black oral histories of UMass students and alums. This project has helped UMass members connect Black stories to our roots here on campus: https://www.umass.edu/diversity/blackpresence/voices/all

The Comm-Dis department can also check out Charlena Seymour’s video, at the top of the page. She is a graduate of our department, and has also served as our department chair and ASHA president!
“In 1971, Seymour joined the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Department of Communication Disorders first as an assistant professor. She served as the director of the Communication Disorders Clinic at the UMass in 1974 and was appointed chair of the department and dean of the Graduate School. In 2001, Seymour assumed the position of interim provost and senior vice chancellor for Academic Affairs. In 2004, she was appointed provost. Seymour later retired from UMass to serve as provost of Simmons College in Boston in 2009.”

You can learn more about Dr. Seymour in the DEI history section of our department page: https://www.umass.edu/public-health-sciences/academics/communication-disorders/justice-equity-diversity-and-inclusion/our-jedi-history

I personally look forward to exploring the archive in more depth and discovering more stories that influence the people and departments around us, as well as the rest of the country.

N a i l a  A r s k y (pronouns: she/her)

M.A. Candidate in Speech-Language Pathology ’23