I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for those students on home instruction. Often, this population includes students with special needs who are really struggling to find a place in either the public schools or in private schools. Many of these students find it difficult to get vital services.

I knew I wanted to be a speech pathologist by my sophomore year in high school, after working in a daycare center over summer vacation. I became aware of the importance of effective communication through caring for a little four-year-old girl there with cerebral palsy. I have not wavered from that commitment even once since then, back in 1975.