Increasing African American Student Success in Speech-Language Pathology Programs

Sarah M Ginsberg

doi:10.30707/tlcsd2.3ginsberg2

Abstract

At this time just under 8% of the speech-language pathologists in the United States identify themselves as minorities (ASHA, 2016a) despite the efforts of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association to increase diversity. African Americans are poorly represented in the field at 3% of the membership (ASHA, 2016a). In order to identify potential mechanisms for increasing the diversity of the field, 11 African American Speech-Language Pathologists were asked to provide recommendations for improving African American student retention in speech-language pathology undergraduate and graduate educational programs. Participants offered recommendations for how to increase the success rate of African American students in speech-language pathology programs, including providing culturally competent and caring mentorship, co-mentoring opportunities in educational programs, and connections to critical resources.

Highlights

Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/tlcsd Part of the Other Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons
The present study examined mechanisms African American Speech-Language Pathologists (AASLPs) identified as helping them be successful in completing their undergraduate and graduate degrees
The participants were asked to identify mechanisms that would be valuable for implementation in higher education speech-language pathology programs to increase the successful graduation rate of African American students

Summary

Introduction

Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/tlcsd Part of the Other Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons. The present study examined mechanisms African American Speech-Language Pathologists (AASLPs) identified as helping them be successful in completing their undergraduate and graduate degrees. The study sought to understand participants’ recommendations for improving retention of future African American speech-language pathology students based on their experiences. The use of an academic resilience framework places an emphasis on the processes and experiences of those who have been academically successful despite a general lack of success for those with the same background (Kitano & Lewis, 2005; Morales & Trotman, 2004,) In this way, we, academics in communication sciences and disorders (CSD), can examine mechanisms for success instead of failure, in order to potentially replicate the factors and conditions such that the success of others can be increased (Morales, 2008). Examples of microaggressions that participants noted included being treated as a member of a stereotyped group, feeling isolated due to exclusion

Results

Discussion

Conclusion