In Speech-Language Pathology, the White Coat Symbolizes More than Clinical Readiness.

The white coat represents:

• A commitment to ethical and compassionate care
• The responsibility to advocate for vulnerable populations
• The trust placed in future speech-language pathologists to help individuals across all lifespans to communicate with confidence and connect with others in a meaningful way

From a student’s point of view, putting on a white coat is a true moment of pride—symbolizing that we have entered a field grounded in empathy and evidenced-based clinical and meaningful connection. It’s the moment we fully realize what an honor it is to help others communicate and be heard.

Inspiration From the Chair, Dean and Students

Hariklia Proios, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, warmly opened the ceremony by recognizing students’ dedication, perseverance and personal growth. She acknowledged the countless hours spent in class, clinic, research and reflection emphasizing that this milestone is a testament not only to the hard work, but to calling and purpose.

Xiao-lei Wang, PhD, dean of the Ruth S. Ammon College of Education and Health and Sciences, followed with heartfelt remarks celebrating ���������’s commitment of fostering student success.

Second-year graduate student Danielle Myers delivered a moving message centered on intentionality and self-growth, sharing guiding principles that resonated deeply with the audience. She spoke about choice, growth, belief, curiosity, support and confidence, reminding peers that:

“We are worthy of the chapters ahead. Show up for yourself, stay curious, lean on your support and lead with confidence—even when the path feels uncertain.”

Her words encouraged students to embrace imperfection, advocate for themselves and enter the profession wholeheartedly and unapologetically.

Alumni Advisory Council Members Share Their Journeys in Speech-Language Pathology

Alumni Advisory Council member Kayla Bush, MS ’22, then shared her own path as a speech-language pathologist, offering wisdom, authenticity and reassurance for the cohort preparing for their clinical futures. She reminded students that grounding themselves in their purpose will guide them through challenges:

“If you pour your heart into this, if you stay connected to your ‘why,’ you will get through it. And you will come out stronger, wiser and more confident than you ever imagined. Be the best version of YOU. You deserve that.”

Following her message, fellow Alumni Advisory Council member Bobbi O’Connor ’22, MS ’24, reflected on her own journey through ���������’s communication sciences and disorders program and the lasting impact it continues to have on her career. Her words highlighted the deep connection between the education that the students receive and the clinicians they become:

“Adelphi gave me the foundation, skills and confidence I needed to step into the field with immense courage. The experiences I had here prepared me for academic success, professional growth and, most importantly, the privilege of helping others communicate.”

Her message served as a powerful reminder of the enduring strength of the Adelphi community, one that supports students not just during graduate school, but throughout their professional lives.

The Pinning and White Coat Presentation

The highlight of the evening was the official presentation of pins and white coats. One by one, Dr. Proios announced each graduate student’s name as they walked across the stage to receive their white coat from Anne-Marie Skvarla, director of the Hy Weinberg Center for Communication Disorders. Students were then presented with their pins by Angela Murphy, associate director of field and clinical experiences in the Ruth S. Ammon College of Education and Health Sciences, before being greeted by Steven R. Cox, PhD, associate professor and director of the graduate program, with a congratulatory handshake.

Dr. Proios expressed sincere appreciation for the individuals whose commitment brought this ceremony into fruition, including College leadership, program faculty, administrative staff, and the student subcommittee whose passion and teamwork shaped every detail.

To conclude the evening, Dr. C0x reminded students that the path ahead will be challenging and rewarding—but also transformative.

A New Tradition Begins

This inaugural combined Pinning and White Coat Ceremony marks the beginning of a tradition rooted in pride, unity and professional identity.

The communication sciences and disorders community looks forward to continuing this meaningful celebration in future years, honoring each new cohort of speech-language pathology graduate students into the profession with recognition, encouragement and gratitude.

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Dr. Proios was the only non-physician recognized with the award, which celebrates exceptional contributions to stroke care across disciplines. It was presented at the conference’s formal dinner, where global leaders in stroke gathered to honor innovation, research and advocacy in the field.

“I am so moved and humbled to be recognized alongside global leaders in stroke,” Dr. Proios said. This honor reaffirms the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in improving outcomes for stroke survivors, from clinical care to community education.

Earlier that day, Dr. Proios was also invited to speak at the ESOC morning session titled “Life After Stroke: The Next Big Thing.” Her presentation explored innovations in long-term stroke recovery, focusing on empowering patients and communities through educational programs and support networks.

Bringing Stroke Expertise to ���������’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders

At Adelphi, Dr. Proios leads a growing portfolio of academic and clinical initiatives that support stroke survivors and educate future clinicians. “In Communication Sciences and Disorders, we offer several courses, some of which I also teach, that focus on the diagnosis, consequences and treatment of stroke and related conditions like aphasia,” she explained. “Our students also have the opportunity to provide services to stroke survivors through our Hy Weinberg Center for Communication Disorders.”

The department recently launched the Adelphi Stroke Survivor Community Group, adding to the clinic’s existing aphasia communication group, which has been supporting individuals with language challenges since before Dr. Proios joined the University. “In our group, we share experiences, offer advice and remind each other that recovery isn’t just about therapy sessions and medications; it’s about finding new ways to live a fulfilling life after a stroke. What worked for one person might help someone else, and those insights are invaluable,” a stroke survivor in the Adelphi Stroke Survivor Community Group stated.

From Adelphi to the World: Expanding Knowledge to Increase Stroke Survival

Dr. Proios joined Adelphi in 2019 and brings more than 25 years of experience in clinical and academic roles across the United States and Europe. She holds a PhD from Teachers College, Columbia University, and has conducted research at Harvard University’s Cognitive Neuropsychology Lab and the University Hospital of Zurich. A practicing speech-language pathologist, she currently serves as president of the and leads education efforts for the global , which teaches children and families to recognize the signs of stroke and act quickly. “We are now just 1,838 children away from reaching 900,000 who have been taught the FAST message globally,” Dr. Proios added.

Founded in 2007, the is the leading authority on stroke in Europe. ESO brings together clinicians, researchers and policy leaders through annual conferences, education, certification and evidence-based guidelines, with the goal of improving stroke prevention, care and rehabilitation worldwide. ESOC is one of the largest and most influential stroke congresses in the world.

Dr. Proios’ award is a reflection not only of her personal achievements but also of the strength and impact of ���������’s Communication Sciences and Disorders program. Her leadership reinforces the department’s dedication to preparing students for meaningful careers in healthcare, while advancing global dialogue around communication, health equity and rehabilitation.

To learn more about Dr. Proios’ work, visit her faculty profile.

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“This event was created for students by students,” she continued, “spearheaded by the Graduate Students Pinning Subcommittee.”

More than 110 people attended, including the students being honored, their family and friends, faculty, staff, and alumni—and, another first—the newly established Alumni Advisory Board, which Dr. Proios said “Will be a renewable resource for all of our students, past and present.”

A New Tradition Begins

The first to take the stage was Xiao-lei Wang, PhD, dean of the Ruth S. Ammon College of Education and Health Sciences (CEHS). She highlighted Adelphi’s commitment to students and alumni working toward their respective educational or career goals.

Dr. Proios, who served as the event host, addressed the students with what she referred to as “themes of optimism and resilience, that together anything is possible, aligning with our CSD mission statement: You Can, I Can, We Can, Create New CSD Futures!”

Kiera “Keke” Venza, a second-year graduate student, spoke eloquently about forging unbreakable bonds through supportive relationships with classmates at Adelphi. “She, alongside other pinning committee members, played pivotal roles mobilizing and sharing the vision that became our first pinning ceremony,” said Dr. Proios.

Alumni Advisory Board members Joy Minkoff, MS ’99; Paola Rodriquez, MS ’23, and Angela Allegretti ’11, MS ’13, each took the stage and shared her unique path from student to present day. Their presentations included photos from the past and present to show the different environments in which a career in communication sciences and disorders will take you.

Then the official pinning began. Dr. Proios announced each student by name. One by one, the students came to the stage and received their pins from Anne-Marie Skvarla, director of the Hy Weinberg Center for Communication Disorders, and Angela Murphy, associate director of student success in field experiences for CEHS.

Dr. Proios thanked “all those who have made this journey and event possible,” including Kerry Scalere and Barbara Clemens, CSD administrative assistants who helped organize and support this event; Stacey Barbato, director of operations for CEHS; Erik Swartz, PhD, CEHS vice dean and professor, for his unwavering support; the pinning subcommittee; and first-year CSD graduate assistants Lodwica Silva and Taylor Slicklein for volunteering their time to help.

“A special thank-you went out to all families and loved ones for standing by the side of our matriculating students as a source of strength throughout their journey,” said Dr. Proios. “This event was as much for the students as it is for their families.”

Steven Cox, PhD, associate professor and director of the CSD Graduate Program, gave the closing remarks, ending the evening with positivity.

“A new tradition was created from the vision, teamwork and commitment to our students,” said Dr. Proios. “We are looking forward with excitement to the next pinning ceremony to continue the new tradition of honoring our own CSD future rising professionals.”

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In an effort to shed light on impaired lexical retrieval, Dr. Lukic and collaborators from Northwestern University and the University of Maryland conducted two experiments testing the brain’s ability to correctly process and then utilize categorically ambiguous words. The team’s findings were published as “The role of category ambiguity in normal and impaired lexical processing: Can you paint without the paint?” (Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, May 2023).¹

Categorically ambiguous words, which comprise 80 percent of everyday English vocabulary, are words that can be used as either verbs (to paint) or as nouns (the paint). Critically, these words can offer a peek into the structure of neural pathways that our brains use to store, process and retrieve words. “Despite their high productivity, categorically ambiguous words have received little attention as part of the research into normal and impaired lexical processing,” Dr. Lukic said. “We wanted to know if these two different uses of paint are processed in the same way.”

The two experiments considered the base and derivative forms of categorically ambiguous nouns and verbs. The base form is the linguistic use of a word which likely formed first—for instance, something must initially constitute paint before someone can paint with it. As Dr. Lukic puts it, base forms are closer to the front of our mental filing cabinets. Derivative forms, on the other hand, are likely built online. They require greater processing costs to be retrieved by even healthy brains—an action even more difficult for people with non-fluent aphasia and other neurological conditions.

The first experiment asked 30 healthy older adults and 12 individuals with aphasia to identify when the base form of a word was a noun or a verb in both ambiguous and unambiguous words. Dr. Lukic and her team found that all healthy participants, as well as those with fluent aphasia, were able to recognize correct base forms, although they did experience longer reaction times when working with categorically ambiguous words. However, participants with more serious, non-fluent aphasia were only able to consistently recognize nouns as base forms.

The second eye-tracking experiment tracked the accurate differentiation of a derivative word form from its base by 56 healthy-brained young adults. This time, all participants experienced a reading-time slowdown for derivative forms versus their bases.

Together, results from the two experiments suggest that categorically ambiguous word forms are likely created from an existing word without any change in form, which means that access to base words will directly impact retrieval of corresponding derivatives. For people with varying degrees of aphasia, this could mean impaired access to a significant portion of their lexicon.

According to Dr. Lukic, her team’s findings hold major significance for improving assessment and treatment protocols for neurological conditions. “For patients with brain damage, we have to think about ways to turn around language loss. How can we implement something that improves someone’s ability to find a word?” Understanding how our brains store and retrieve words— and how difficult it is to access bases and their derivatives—can lead to therapies for repairing or enhancing impaired lexicons, which ultimately increases the brain’s recall efficiency.

The need for such therapies could not be more urgent, Dr. Lukic maintains. “Language is essential for human communication and for establishing social relations and human interactions. We need to show better care for our aging population and improve their quality of life. We need to give them back their lexicon.”

Biography

Sladjana Lukic, PhD

Sladjana Lukic, PhD, assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders, leads the Neurobiology of Language and Behavior Lab with a focus on two lines of research: the neurocognitive correlates of the lexical system and its relation with emotions and other cognitive systems. She also explores linguistic processes in the context of degeneration and development, investigating how language shapes cognition and emotions.

^{¹Lukic, S., Krauska, A., Yoshida, M., & Thompson, C. K. (2023). Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 17. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2023.1028378}

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In July, University President Christine M. Riordan traveled to the Dominican Republic to explore a collaboration with Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM). The visit laid the groundwork for expanding academic programming and for exploring student exchange opportunities, research collaborations, joint conferences and other efforts between the schools.

Adelphi leadership meets with leaders from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM). From left: Thomas Kline, Vice President of University Advancement and External Relations; trustee José Singer Weisinger ’73, ’20 (Hon.), honorary adviser to the Dominican Republic president on foreign policy; Adelphi President Christine M. Riordan; PUCMM Rector Rvdo. P. Dr. Secilio Espinal, and other officials from PUCMM.

While visiting the private Roman Catholic university, Dr. Riordan participated in a public dialogue with César Dargam, executive vice president of the National Council of Private Enterprise in the Dominican Republic, to discuss the mutual benefits of creating synergies between academic institutions and businesses.

“Our main goal as a University is to produce graduates who are in high demand by companies and to help fulfill a company’s needs in terms of their employment,” Dr. Riordan said.

United Nations Envoy Connections

Instrumental in coordinating the meeting was José Singer Weisinger ’73, ’20 (Hon.), a member of the ������Ƶ Board of Trustees and an honorary adviser on international affairs to the president of the Dominican Republic. Trustee Weisinger, who earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Adelphi, has been a leader in both the private and public sectors in the Dominican Republic for more than three decades. He served as special envoy to the United Nations from 2019 to 2020, leading the country’s delegation in its nonpermanent membership on the Security Council.

Dr. Weisinger accompanied President Riordan on the mission to the Dominican Republic, as did Thomas Kline, EdD, vice president of University advancement and external affairs.

Close to Becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution

The potential partnership with PUCMM aligns with Adelphi’s goal of becoming a fully designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). In 2019, Adelphi was named an by the U.S. Department of Education.

���������’s population of incoming Hispanic students grew by 43 percent between Fall 2015 and Fall 2021. The University’s largest-ever first-year class, entering in Fall 2023, totaled more than 1,400 students, 23 percent of whom reported a Hispanic background. ���������’s total enrollment of undergraduate students is now 21 percent Hispanic.

To be designated as a full HSI, an institution must report at least 25 percent full-time Hispanic undergraduate students. Adelphi is expected to reach that mark as early as 2025 or 2026. As a fully designated HSI, the University will be eligible to apply for that assist with strengthening educational opportunities for Hispanic Americans and other underrepresented populations.

“The HSI designation will help create a broader outreach with community organizations and expand our partnerships with local, regional, national and international agencies and institutions,” said R. Sentwali Bakari, PhD, ���������’s vice president for student affairs and diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. “The educational environment will increasingly be culturally relevant and inclusive, reflecting a commitment to our students’ cultural identity and academic and professional success.”

Growing Global Connections

The Dominican Republic partnership is the latest in a series of global collaborations. A partnership between the ������Ƶ Robert B. Willumstad School of Business and Hochschule Fresenius’s International Business School in Germany brings together students and faculty from Adelphi and Germany to study, teach and collaborate, culminating in an exceptional study abroad experience for students at both institutions.

A collaboration with the University of Warsaw, funded by the National Science Foundation, takes six Adelphi students to Poland each summer to work alongside top scientists engaged in advanced research into nanotechnologies applicable to solar energy.

The ������Ƶ College of Nursing and Public Health has established a partnership with the Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The two colleges are exploring a number of opportunities, including exchanging faculty members and staff, sharing academic materials, offering faculty development programs and jointly participating in seminars.

And the Bhisé Global Understanding Project is an expansive multidisciplinary initiative designed to prepare students to think globally and to encourage faculty research on issues affecting people worldwide. The project includes curriculum development, faculty fellowships and grants, on-campus programming, and student travel experiences.

Partnerships Here at Home

The University also has more than 40 partnerships with companies in the New York City area, opening learning, internship and job opportunities for students and providing faculty expertise for businesses.

Partnerships with local universities—like the highly ranked New York Doctor of Audiology Consortium with Hofstra University and St. John’s University, and a new partnership offering a path for Adelphi students who want to pursue a master’s degree in Hofstra’s Creative Arts Therapy Counseling program—are also expanding learning opportunities for our students.

Whether here in New York, or around the world, our focus on partnerships supports our dedication to student success, academic excellence and meaningful real-world experiences.

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Hemish Naidoo, a molecular neuroscience major (a multidisciplinary program offered through the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology and the College of Arts and Sciences), has spent the summer exploring that possibility, and for him, the mission is personal as well as academic. His grandfather, whom he refers to as “my first friend,” developed a disease known as Broca’s aphasia, in which the ability to speak spontaneously and link words correctly is lost.

“His mental state deteriorated over a period of years until I could no longer communicate with him,” Naidoo said. “I realized how simple neurological malfunctions can sever the most intimate of bonds, no matter how unshakable they may seem. It inspired me to learn how neuropsychiatric research, alongside appropriate clinical care, could improve the lives of those like my late grandfather.”

Pairing Student and Mentor

Naidoo, who is minoring in biology and Asian studies, is also a member of ���������’s Honors College. He was paired with a faculty language expert through the Honors College Summer Fellowships program. His faculty mentor is Sladjana Lukic, PhD, assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders in the Ruth S. Ammon College of Education and Health Sciences.

Naidoo applied to assist Dr. Lukic’s research project, “Connected Speech Patterns in Schizophrenia and Dementia,” and was accepted last spring. Their research began in June, following the close of ���������’s academic year. They have been conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of the relevant literature, looking for both similarities and differences across published studies. Their research has been taking place in ���������’s neurobiology of language and behavior (NoLaB) lab, in which researchers focus on the neurocognitive correlates of the language system and its relation with emotions and other cognitive systems.

“Psychiatric and neurological diseases with significant language deficit can have different root causes,” Dr. Lukic said. “These disorders can be characterized by either neurodevelopmental syndromes, such as schizophrenia, or neurodegenerative syndromes, such as behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. In our literature review, we began by looking for promising articles, then for patterns or inconsistencies among them.”

Dr. Lukic noted how important it is for a young investigator to spend focused energy on understanding the contemporary status of a research problem, and that takes time.

“Hemish did a great job collecting a good volume of published data on this topic, but there is still a lot of work in front of us [and] we are moving in the right direction,” she said. “It is a rare and unique opportunity to start your research training in a field with such profound impact on clinical practice, and I believe that Hemish is well-suited for this task. Hemish will next move toward learning how to organize collected data and write an analytical report. Down the road, the idea is to conclude this effort with a published manuscript.”

An Analytical Challenge

Naidoo said that one of the challenges of the project has been looking at studies that explore the same problem but from different perspectives.

“For example, one study may try to get patients to speak by taking a structured test. Another may ask patients to describe a picture,” he explained. The team plans to utilize Lateral.ai. and Hume.ai, artificial intelligence software programs that read and organize research, and convert human emotions into spoken words, respectively. “Automated language systems take recordings of patients’ speech and mark sections where they pause or stutter, but they often employ different software,” he added.

The conclusion of the summer fellowship is a final report to be submitted to the Honors College, but that isn’t the end of their partnership. Naidoo and Dr. Lukic plan to continue working together on a related project or possibly with findings they may have discovered in their meta-analysis.

Naidoo wishes to enter an MD/PhD program after graduating from Adelphi. “This systematic review/meta-analysis is my first stepping stone in that journey,” he said. “I hope to become a compassionate physician-scientist who can develop and apply treatments that can preserve the relationships between grandparents and their grandchildren. I want to ensure that the words that need to be said and heard, and carried with love, always reach their destination.”

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The 3-credit, three-week course, open to students in the master’s program in speech-language pathology with demonstrated clinical experience, began with four synchronous online classes of learning about global speech-language pathology and Jamaican culture. At the end of week two, students and faculty began their trip to Jamaica.

The group traveled to Kingston for one week to meet and work with residents of , a home for children with disabilities. Students and faculty provided services to individuals with communication disorders and exchanged knowledge with local professionals and caregivers. While in Jamaica, students also had the opportunity to experience Jamaican culture, including trying different cuisines, enjoying the tropical landscape and visiting national landmarks.

In Kingston, students traveled to multiple Mustard Seed Communities locations with Dr. Dunn-Murad and Velsor to further their knowledge of global speech-language pathology and develop their clinical skills.

Gaining a Global Perspective

Students gained a global perspective on the field of speech-language pathology. Under the guidance of faculty, students learned how to provide evidence-based assessment and intervention in a diverse cultural context by working directly with the children of Mustard Seed Communities.

“I learned so much on this trip that I would never be able to learn in any externship site here in the U.S., and I will cherish that for the rest of my life,” one student said of the trip.

The group began their trip at Mary’s Child, one of the Mustard Seed Communities residences. Students also spent time at Mustard Seed Communities location Sophie’s Place, nestled in the mountains of Kingston.

Student Nancy Arriola described, “On our way to Sophie’s Place, we took in the mesmerizing views of the mountains, including pops of bright colors from its abundance of bougainvillea flowers growing on bushes and trees. Once we arrived, we had the opportunity to perform informal speech and language evaluations, as well as hearing screenings on students from the Little Angels School. Through this experience, we learned about cultural and dialectical differences as we modified assessments to fit these children’s cultural backgrounds.”

Students also traveled to the University of Technology, Jamaica, and met the head coordinator, Carol Hutchinson, of the Rehabilitation Center for Children with Exceptionalities, also a part of the Mustard Seed Communities.

One student said the trip to Jamaica impacted their future as a clinician.

“This experience showed me who I want to be as a future clinician. It exposed me to so many different aspects of what speech and language therapy is and the opportunities I have that a textbook or classroom setting would not have exposed me to.”

At the end of week three, students and faculty said goodbye to their Mustard Seed colleagues and returned to campus for a final class to unpack the overall experience. By participating in this course, students developed global perspectives and comparative knowledge of world systems that will translate to their practice in the United States.

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The first scholarly journal to be published through the University Libraries’ new open access digital publishing program, it serves as a platform for generating new knowledge based on principles of fairness, justice, inclusivity and decolonization and encourages interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary discussions. Following its launch, plans are to publish it twice yearly, with the next issue planned for Fall 2023.

According to Reem Khamis, PhD, professor and director of ���������’s Neurophysiology in Speech-Language Pathology Lab and the journal’s managing editor, it is a “scholar-initiated project that was conceived from a collective desire to create a space that brings together scholars, educators, clinicians and community members interested in promoting transformative research, policy and practices related to critical examinations of communication and disability as they intersect with race, gender, class and other sociopolitical constructions.”

The Speech, Language, Hearing Scientists Equity Action Collective (SLHS-EAC)—eight faculty members around the country from marginalized groups—came up with the idea for the journal in September of 2021. The SLHS-EAC then got approval and assistance from the dean of libraries at Adelphi, Violeta Ilik.

The new journal implements principles of equity, justice, inclusivity and decoloniality and dismantles all forms of “-isms” in the way that people communicate, explained Dr. Khamis, adding that the most important factor in a manuscript’s review is its contribution to critical understanding of communication and disability.

“We intentionally built in processes to encourage and support scholarship from authors who are often marginalized by mainstream academic publishing,” said Betty Yu, PhD, professor at San Francisco State University. The journal is as much a space for building community as it is a venue for expressing ideas—as symbolized in the JCSCD logo, which is designed to convey “our wish to ignite ideas, to illuminate paths, to fuel activism and to burn down barriers.”

“We frequently hear from other scholars that JCSCD has ’caught fire’ because so many of us have finally found the intellectual home and family we have been seeking,” Yvette Hyter, PhD, professor emeritus at Western Michigan University said.

Christopher Barnes, PhD, assistant professor and digital publishing librarian at Adelphi, noted, “[We] were able to publish a first issue that demonstrates the need for such an interdisciplinary journal and the groundbreaking work being done in the area of critical studies of communication and disability.” Dr. Khamis concluded, “Colleagues are writing to us with such excitement about having this venue—some comment on how they were looking for a venue that is appropriate for their work, and now they have it.”

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���������’s Communication Disorders: Speech-Language Pathology program is determined to improve the field’s ability to treat America’s increasingly diverse population by preparing practitioners who are bilingual, culturally sensitive and attuned to language differences.

Meet one of the students in the master’s program, which includes a bilingual option that requires an additional 12 credits in bilingual education along with clinical experience in schools with large multicultural populations.

Serving bilingual clients in the Hispanic community

Carla Alvarez was born and raised in the Dominican Republic before moving to New York City as a teenager. She first became interested in speech-language pathology while working with high school students on the autism spectrum as an assistant teacher in New York City.

“I didn’t know if I wanted to be a teacher or a nurse, and then I saw the speech-language pathologists and became inspired,” Alvarez said. “They’re able to really home in on the communication aspect of each child’s disorder, which I thought was unique.”

Now, as a student on her way to earning an MS in Communication Disorders: Speech-Language Pathology, Alvarez is building her career serving patients in the Hispanic community.

“I hope to impact culturally diverse communities by providing equitable services for all backgrounds across socioeconomic levels,” said Alvarez. “I hope to impact the Hispanic community by bringing awareness about cultural sensitivity.”

She’s gaining real-world experience through her externship as a student teacher. Paired with a bilingual supervisor, Alvarez is working in elementary schools on Long Island conducting evaluations of bilingual students.

“This has been the greatest experience I’ve received from this program,” Alvarez said. “As a Spanish-speaking therapist, I am able to identify if a child has a language disorder or a language difference. Does the child speak more Spanish than English? Why is he having trouble? Is he having trouble in English or Spanish? And we’re able to recognize the issue.”

Alvarez has also seen firsthand the need for trained bilingual speech-language pathologists, teachers and administrators in schools.

“I think there’s a lack of training, so when a student speaks in a dialect from their home, teachers and administrators might automatically think they have a speech problem,” Alvarez said. “But they don’t. They might just be speaking Spanglish or in an African-American dialect.”

Even among Spanish-speaking students, there are many different types of dialects and backgrounds.

“We have Spaniard Spanish and American-Latin Spanish dialects,” Alvarez said. “It’s important to be sensitive to students’ language and culture.”

Meanwhile, speech-language pathologists only make up one piece of the puzzle.

“Many different professionals in the school get together and make decisions for the students, and each one has their own opinions,” Alvarez said. “What kind of services does the child need? Do we have to diagnose them with a language impairment? Everyone has to be on the same page and educated about bilingualism.”

As her career progresses, Alvarez looks forward to making a difference in her community and being a voice for Hispanic students.

“I definitely hope to go back to my community and help bilingual students,” she said. “I hope to be that speech-language pathologist who is able to differentiate between a disorder and a language difference and impact my Latino-Spanish community.”

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That’s why ���������’s Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) program provides a Transgender Voice Program at its Manhattan Center that includes individual and group training at no cost to its clients. The group offers an opportunity for clients to carry over the skills they acquire in the individual sessions. Improvisation, script reading, and role play procedures allow for exploration to enhance confidence and receive support from one’s peers.

This is just one of the many resources that ���������’s CSD program offers to support diverse communities. Run by faculty, students and staff from a range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds, the CSD program provides speech, language and hearing therapies, free of charge, to people in local communities and across the region.

Offering Speech Therapy and Hearing Services to Local Communities

“People often cannot afford these services, and speech therapy is not something that’s readily covered by insurance,” said Anne Marie Skvarla, director of ���������’s Hy Weinberg Center for Communication Disorders. “So the Hy Weinberg Center’s speech and hearing clinic provides services that may otherwise be inaccessible.”

At the Hy Weinberg Center, graduate and undergraduate CSD students deliver speech therapy services to clients of all cultural and language backgrounds and ages—from toddlers to the elderly—under the guidance of certified and licensed clinical supervisors. Pre-Covid, they also provided speech and hearing outreach to schools, libraries and senior centers. This service is tentatively scheduled to resume in Fall 2022

“Prior to Covid, our students provided services at P.S. 134 in Hollis, Queens, which has a diverse population,” Skvarla said. “We worked with children to help develop their literacy skills. These children did not qualify for these services in school but really needed the help.”

Kayla Figetakis, MS ’22, understands firsthand the impact of training and working with diverse populations. As a CSD student, she learned the importance of distinguishing a language disorder from a language difference.

“If a client is making errors in English, you have to understand: Are they making those errors because their primary language—for example, Mandarin—is influencing them, or are they presenting difficulties in both of their languages?” Figetakis said. “So many individuals are misdiagnosed because pathologists might not make this distinction.”

Figetakis was recently hired by the New York City Department of Education to be a speech language pathologist at a public school in Brooklyn. Melanie Rosa-Chaves ’22, another CSD graduate, won a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to teach English in Portugal. “More people of multicultural backgrounds need to go into this field so we can better serve all populations,” Rosa-Chaves said.

Helping Families Maintain Heritage Languages

CSD also helps Arabic- and Spanish-speaking parents maintain use of their native language with their children. Professor of communication sciences and disorders Reem Khamis, PhD, established for Arabic-speaking families in 2019. The program aims to further the understanding—and strengthen the quantity and quality—of parents’ verbal engagement with their children. Supported by a grant from the Qatar Foundation International, an educational organization committed to advancing Arabic language teaching and learning, the program has a particular focus on enriching the linguistic environment in families, building early literacy skills in children and preparing them for school.

“With LENA Start, families are empowered to value their native languages and maintain them across generations,” Dr. Khamis said in an . “Our work must always be centered around the targeted families and their children within a strengths-based approach. We can attempt to do this by facilitating parents’ meaningful participation across language policy, pedagogy and practice.”

Providing Speech Pathology Services Abroad

CSD programs go well beyond the local area, reaching as far as Kingston, Jamaica. Adelphi is participating in the program, providing virtual speech pathology support to children with disabilities on the outskirts of Kingston.

“There are very few speech pathologists in Jamaica, so we’re providing staff trainings and in-services to staff of the residential clinics who work with children with speech and language difficulties,” Skvarla said. “We don’t want to just pop in for a week and then leave. We believe this program allows for a sustainable, ongoing relationship.”

CSD also provided vital hearing services in El Salvador. In January 2020, seven audiology doctoral students and two audiology professors traveled with the Starkey Hearing Foundation to the Central American country to provide hearing services to more than 1,200 individuals with hearing loss and hearing impairments.

The Global Audiology program has been led by Ianthe Dunn-Murad, ScD, clinical program director of the audiology program, and is conducted as part of the top-ranked Long Island Doctor of Audiology Consortium, ���������’s partnership with Hofstra University and St. John’s University. Participating students have access to each university’s faculty, lab facilities and clinical partnerships. They also have local and global opportunities to learn to perform a wide variety of diagnostic, remedial and other critical services within the scope of practice for audiologists.

An Expanding Mission

In the near future, Skvarla looks forward to expanding ���������’s outreach to communities in need and resuming more in-person services in the wake of the pandemic. The CSD program’s own diversity, equity and inclusion task force is also developing new resources for off-campus clinical supervisors, which they’ll share through email, on-campus workshops and trainings.

“We’ll start implementing this in the fall,” Skvarla said. “Our students obtain much of their clinical training off campus. We want to support the sites that mentor them and provide any resources we can. “

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