A Look Into Leadership in Speech-Language Pathology

To write an essay on leadership in speech-language pathology is to write an individual’s work-life story. In my case, it started out after a lengthy career as a pediatric therapist in the New York City hospital system, primarily in developmentally disabilities clinics where children who had been released from State Schools, or would have been eventual candidates for institutionalization, were patients.

The respect I had for my supervising clinicians from the time of my clinical fellowship year is immeasurable. At that time, and to the present, data analysis of client behavior was key to understanding client progress. Most of the clients were in late childhood or early adolescence. Some were unable to eat, talk, ambulate, or perform any independent functions. At the other end of the spectrum, were children who were likely “borderline” or developmentally normal but whose caregivers were deeply concerned about them. By evaluating and treating children and young adults at opposite ends of the developmental spectrum, I was able to be well-supervised in my CF year by clinicians with a great deal of experience. Thus, I started to develop my own model of what “good” supervision was.

My written reports were scrutinized for technical as well as professional errors and as part of my work-life, I took work home. Eventually, I developed “boiler plate” of what reports should contain and what language to use. I enjoyed being effective clinically and passed on my newly acquired wisdom to new students assigned to me. These young CF’s were my first experience with supervision. The dialogues that developed between myself and the student clinicians opened my eyes to the value of training effectively by example and the benefit of cross-dialogue in supervision, as opposed to receiving re-written remarks on a document.

I was thrilled to be asked to be the Associate Supervisor of Services at the Terence Cardinal Cooke Center in NYC shortly after being licensed and certified. I was an eager clinician-supervisor and bilingual in Spanish and English, which was helpful in the community in which I worked. I was assigned to supervise evals, along with individual and small group therapies, now extending to adults from pediatrics. This necessitated me to go beyond my master’s education and I decided to apply for the doctoral program at the City University of New York. Working full-time meant I had to do my doctoral classes part-time at night. It was amazing to me how my education and knowledge advanced. The doctoral program took me 7 years part-time and included qualifying exams to advance and receive an enroute Masters of Philosophy degree. The acceptance to go on to do an independent doctoral program was another significant point in my professional life. I knew I wanted to earn a PhD and go into teaching, research, and clinical scholarship.

My doctoral dissertation in dementia was a life-changing experience. Working side by side with other language scientists opened my vistas to the deep underpinning of academic knowledge in our discipline of communication sciences and disorders. Very well-known researchers on my dissertation team included language scientists, neuroscientists, and statisticians. I recall the day of my defense when my work offered proof that early language differences (response time changes in milliseconds) could offer early diagnostic indicators to families concerned about language changes in their loved ones, who would go to be diagnosed with dementia.

At the same time, I was working in clinical centers and university clinics teaching undergraduate and graduate course in speech-language pathology, all in the NYC metropolitan region. I found it an incredible opportunity to offer advanced education and supervision to young master’s students. During this time, the inspiration for my first two books with Plural Publishing came to me. The first, Science of Successful Supervision and Mentorship, was a direct outgrowth of my day-to-day work with clients, students and co-workers. It set a standard for me by which I could assess my work and development as a clinical leader.

My entrée into the world of adult neurogenics was inspired in a large part by the work of Dr. Martha Taylor Sarno, a leader in the world of aphasia and acquired disorders. While serving on her team at the world-renowned Rusk Institute, I learned that “community re-integration” was the long-term goal of the patients we served. A holistic and multidisciplinary approach characterized all our work at the center. Becoming a lead clinician and supervisor, and eventually a director services in my employment at the universities at which I served,  was made possible by my daily experiences in the foremost rehab center in the world. My second book about community programming and interdisciplinary models, Communication and Aging: Creative Approaches to Improving the Quality of Life, was born there and published by Plural Publishing.

This brings me to my current title, Leadership in Speech-Language Pathology. This book has garnered a great deal of attention I believe in part due to its uniqueness in our discipline. In a multi-decade career of continuous service, I have garnered a great deal of research and practical experience. Whenever I have been at conventions, or at book author’s celebrations, the book has received a great deal of attention and interest as our profession continues to expand in all different markets. The research that went into this book spans years of the profession’s growth along with personal growth, both of which go into clinical leadership.