About Me (Vaguely)

So that we are all on the same page, this is where I am coming from:

I am a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist working in a large, urban public school district in a major metropolitan area.  At this point I’m not up for sharing exactly where I work, because I hear there are psychos hiding among the internets, and I am trying to avoid them. But I will share some deets:

My City

• One of the top ten most impoverished cities in the United States. Its suburbs are the wealthiest cities in the entire state. Cue my rage.
• Almost 40% of families make under $25,000 a year (aka, the “poverty line”)

My District

• Serves almost 90,000 students and employs over 12,000 people
• 85% of students are considered “low income”
• 100% of students receive free lunch and free breakfast during the school year
• Students are 55% African-American, 25% Hispanic, 14% White, and 6% Asian
• 10% of students are English-language learners

I work in a Title 1 K3-5th grade elementary school. 98% of students at my school are African-American, 2% are Hispanic/2 or more races/Asian. At my school we have international refugees, displaced Hurricane Katrina survivors, English language learners, and several children in foster care. We have been on lock-down due to gang violence and neighborhood shootings on more than one occasion last year alone.

My caseload

• approximately 50 students
• Diagnoses include Autism, ADHD, lead poisoning, hearing loss, phonological disorder, speech sound disorder, stuttering, and intellectual disability
• My students are the sweetest, cutest, most creative, most lovable kids I have ever met

And because you’re probably wondering . . . I’m white. And I did not grow up in this state, let alone this city. But it’s home.

Speech Therapy in the City

Hello, Friends!

Welcome to my blog. I can honestly tell you that I never thought I would be doing this. I don’t even have Facebook, so I can assure you that the prospect of a blog has literally never crossed my mind. So what am I doing here? Same reason you are — I googled some combination of the words “speech therapy” and “diversity”, “multi-cultural”, “inner-city”, “poverty”, “african-american”, “black”, “hispanic”, “hmong”, etc. and came up with nothing. And I’m over it.

I guess I’m here because I’m hoping that we, collectively, can fill the void.

I am over getting pamphlets from companies selling therapy materials that feature only white faces. I am sick of spending money on Teachers Pay Teachers only to find that the item I previewed before purchase features ONE character representing a person of color. I am tired of my students reading stories featuring characters who look nothing like them and who participate in “common everyday events” that are not common to my students at all.

Speech and language disorders can affect anyone. I am just hoping to have a conversation about the unique benefits and challenges of working with students in the inner-city.

Thanks for checking me out. Hope to talk to you again soon.

Ms. B