An Interview with New Faculty Member Alisha Brown Gandhi

Alisha Brown Gandhi, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, has worked as a bilingual speech-language pathologist in the New York City Department of Education as a provider of early intervention services, and in the private sector, providing culturally responsive and bilingual diagnostic and therapeutic services for children and adolescents with a wide variety of speech and language disorders and emotional, physical, intellectual, and developmental disabilities.

You offer culturally responsive bilingual diagnostic and therapeutic services for children and adolescents. Could you describe your work?

Culture and language are intimately connected. As culturally responsive clinicians, we are considering our actions in relation to our clients' individual cultural and linguistic needs. This requires integrating the client's perspectives, beliefs, and values into services in order to provide the most impactful speech and language intervention. Culturally responsive services include using assessment and intervention strategies that are relevant and responsive to our clients' intersectional cultural identities.

Communication is a human right, and every child deserves to have their voice heard.

Alisha Brown Gandhi

What do you enjoy most about working with children?

I love working with children because watching them discover the beauty of communication is so special. Communication is a human right, and every child deserves to have their voice heard.

How has the coronavirus pandemic affected your clinical practice?

During this time, the NYU Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic has shifted to telepractice, and we are providing speech-language assessments and therapy virtually. The pandemic has required us to learn new and innovative skills, and rethink some aspects of our clinical practice. While it was a steep learning curve in March, we have adapted to this new platform and we're excited that it gives us a new modality and skillset that we can use to provide services, even when the pandemic ends.