My life has led me to places that I never expected to go. I have had the privilege of traveling throughout the world with my family for most of my adult life which has led me to experiences I never imagined I would have. Whether I was riding in a rickshaw through the busy streets of Mumbai or listening to the call to prayer in Kuwait City, I have found a passion for discovering new places and learning new things.

 

This curiosity has also led me to be motivated to constantly challenge myself in my professional life. As a clinician, I love the challenge of connecting with my young clients and finding the piece of the puzzle that will help them progress in their speech and language development. I now work with undergraduate and graduate students and I find that same excitement when my students grasp a new concept and are able to apply it in their treatment sessions.

 

I am pursuing research in the area of clinical education in the field of speech-language pathology. I believe that in order to improve the effectiveness of speech-language pathology services, the training and education of clinical educators need to be standardized and mandated for all speech-language pathology students. It is likely that all clinicians will supervise another clinician at some point in their careers, whether it is a student, a clinical fellow, or another speech-language pathologist. To this end, it is imperative that current and future clinical educators are provided with the tools they will need to be successful and effective instructors.

 

As a clinical educator, I hope to strengthen the graduate clinicians' understanding of the interaction between oral and written language so that their treatment is based on the latest research in this area. To achieve this, I hope to develop a specialty clinic with a primary focus on literacy development.