Reflections for National Speech-Language-Hearing Month
As we enter National Speech Language Hearing Month, our Clinical Training Specialist, Amanda Grabiner reflects on her experience as a Speech-Language Pathologist and shares her thoughts on this month's significance.
Before I ever considered speech-language pathology as a career, I thought I knew what a speech therapist was. Like many people, I pictured children being pulled out of class to work on "r" sounds or other articulation goals. Important work, of course, but only a sliver of what the field actually holds.
What I learned in graduate school, and even more since entering practice, is how broad this work really is. Speech-language pathologists support literacy, swallowing, cognition, language, voice, hearing-related communication, and for me specifically, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).
At its heart, much of the work comes back to something simple but profound: helping people connect.
Amanda Grabiner, Clinical Training Specialist
The evolution of National Speech-Language-Hearing Month reflects a growing understanding of that work. Speech wasn’t formally recognized in the observance until decades after it began. That history makes the 2024 renaming, from Better Hearing and Speech Month to Speech-Langauge-Hearing Month, feel like a meaningful indicator of how our understanding of communication is growing. Still, there is work to do.
In AAC especially, I see reminders of the work that needs to be done all the time. I meet people who temporarily could not speak after a surgery and were never offered communication supports. I meet families who did not know AAC was an option until years into a child’s educational journey. I hear stories of students without consistent access to the tools they need across school environments. These are not unusual stories. They are reminders that communication access can still be overlooked, even in moments when it matters most.
But those overlooked moments are also where growth can begin, when awareness turns into action. I've witnessed this growing awareness on a personal level as well. My mother, a now-retired nurse, and I spent our careers learning alongside one another, often discussing communication supports that weren't always recognized in clinical practice.
Those conversations remind me that awareness does not stop with formal training. It keeps growing through curiosity, advocacy, and the willingness to rethink what support can look like. That, to me, is part of what this month is about.
As our understanding of speech continues to grow, the field of speech-language pathology continues to expand and adapt alongside it. Conversations surrounding neurodiversity-affirming practice, communication access in healthcare, personalized AAC supports, and emerging tools like AI are challenging many of us to think differently and keep learning. Trends come and go, but the best trends push us toward something familiar: more thoughtful, individualized support.
National Speech-Language-Hearing Month is often framed around awareness, advocacy, and celebration. While all three are important, I keep coming back to advocacy. Sometimes advocacy can show up as something bold like a policy change or funding reform. Just as often, it can look quieter, like presuming potential, making sure a patient can express pain or preference in a hospital room, or helping a child gain access to tools that support fuller participation. Oftentimes, advocacy looks less like grand gestures and more like refusing to let communication needs be treated as secondary.
The perspective of putting communication needs first has long been embedded in AAC. This advocacy reaches far beyond AAC. Speech-language pathology has always carried that same commitment, not simply to improve skills, but to expand access, autonomy, and connection.
As we move through this month, I hope we take time to celebrate how far the profession of speech‑language pathology has come. At the same time, we must keep in view what we still have the power to do. That means continuing to work toward something both simple and profound: ensuring that communication is never treated as optional, but as something everyone deserves access to. That is work worth celebrating.
Amanda Grabiner, MS, CCC-SLP, is a Speech-Language Pathologist and Clinical Training Specialist at Smartbox. She has spent her career supporting individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) across healthcare, education, clinic, and home settings. Her professional interests include communication access, clinical education, advocacy, and supporting meaningful, individualized communication across the lifespan.
In celebration of National Speech-Language-Hearing Month we will be sharing more insights from our Clinical Education team, training opportunities, and free materials all month.