Families across the nation seek assistance for children who experience challenges with self-expression, language development, and forming social relationships. In Florida, one professional whose contributions remain supported and acknowledged is Jinan Erchid, a speech-language pathologist known for her caring and grounded approach to communication. She is not one to seek the public eye, but her experiences epitomize an insight into an expanding, important, and complicated field.
With schools, clinics, and virtual care arrangements, the visibility of communication disorders has become greater. Clinician colleagues report increasing numbers of young children with early language delays, articulation needs linked to autism, and they support families dealing with a range of needs arising from their interactions with their own multilingual family members. Their work extends beyond clinical tasks. Relationships may involve better supporting families’ understanding of Autism and workable cultural responsibilities, while simultaneously connecting families to local supports when clinical professional resources are not sufficient. Professionals like Jinan Erchid frequently are educators to families, advocates for cultural attention, and therapists.
Reflective of broader changes taking place in the field of speech and language care in the United States, these reflections also demonstrate a need for academic and professional support in addition to evidence-based clinical and therapy resources to address family needs for complicated care.
A Path Stitched Together By Language, Culture, and Early Curiosity
Colleagues often remark about a quality that Jinan Erchid has of watching closely and listening carefully, and then responding as appropriate. This mirrors her early life experience. Early in life, born into a trilingual Arabic cultural environment, she began to notice how language and culture can make connections between people. Her awareness of this was present before any professional training she would eventually seek in the field of communication sciences.
Her fascination with language intensified in college, where she learned about the role of speech, sound, and cognition. She often describes a pivotal moment for her own understanding – that communication was connected to identity and emotional safety and to learning. This feeling has remained foundational in her work.
Centering Families At The Heart Of Therapy
Although she has worked in many settings, Jinan’s identity as a family centered practitioner is well known for her family-centered practice. She believes that therapy only provides support if it is a weekly session in isolation of the child’s daily routines and interactions. She encourages parents, family members, and caregivers to use communication strategies during times of ordinary and cultural significance during daily routines such as meals, play, and reading events.
Jinan Erchid’s caseload has included toddlers with early language delays and school-aged children with articulation concerns, communication needs related to autism spectrum disorder, fluency concerns, or a more complex developmental profile. Being bilingual in Arabic and American Sign Language has allowed her to work with families who may otherwise find it challenging to access services or communicate comfortably with a provider.
Parents regularly describe a sense of relief to know there is someone who understands their child’s needs and the cultural context surrounding those needs. This combination is critical in communities where bilingual services are scarce or are not well understood.
Meeting Communication Needs With Evidence-Based Tools
Advances in technology have changed the landscape of communication care. Jinan Erchid explains that technology helps families who experience logistical barriers to consistent therapy with tools such as virtual therapy platforms, interactive applications, and assistive communication devices. When available, she uses technology, focusing specifically on how each tool supports the individual needs of that particular child.
Most clinicians find similar success. Families in rural practices use telepractice to connect with specialists. Early literacy applications facilitate practice in the home environment. Video modeling provides children with an avenue to practice social interaction in ways that feel comfortable. If a child has exposure to multiple languages, digital platforms may help increase exposure to both the home language and the school language.
While these tools help, whether the clinical and therapy tools are effective remains heavily dependent on whether families feel comfortable using them. A device or application provides little benefit if caregivers do not understand their role in supporting communication goals. Guidance from an experienced clinician may lessen the line between frustration and productive progress.
Advocating For Inclusive And Culturally Responsive Care
Across Florida, Texas, and other areas where she has practiced, Jinan Erchicd has noted the same issue. Families from multilingual or under-resourced communities may often experience a delay in receiving services or access to only a partial service. Access to services is limited, especially if assessments are not designed to capture or recognize cultural factors affecting language use. Similarly, the use of standardized tests may be erroneous. Families do experience barriers when utilizing services because of stigma around service seeking or a desire for a provider who is culturally relatable.
She is motivated to address these barriers through change at the structural level, achieving a more diverse workforce of clinicians, clearer guidelines for bilingual assessment, easier access to early intervention services, and partnerships with schools/clinics/community organizations that work with families. She has been a part of free screenings, educational workshops, and neighborhood events to assist families in recognizing early indicators of communication difficulties and the importance of early intervention.
Using Academic/Professional Resources to Stay Current
Similar to many fields, speech-language pathology is a continuously evolving practice due to new research, the ongoing needs of communities, and changing public health policies. She connects in ways to remain well-informed and grounded in best practices – such as through participation in professional organizations, attending conferences and continuing education courses, engaging with multidisciplinary teams, and supervising graduate students. She underscores the value of ongoing personal learning related to clinical practice, so that she may offer ethical and effective service to clients and families.
Academic and professional development mechanisms also provide opportunities for her to contribute to more critical conversations that need to happen around equity in service delivery, digital access to services, and culturally relevant therapy.
Jinan is constantly more focused on system-level improvement than making her work prioritized, and her colleagues have remarked that it demonstrates her consistent and mindful leadership.
A Window into Daily Practice, Community Work
Each workday is different, and she is always busy. Often her mornings may be spent reviewing therapy plans and engaging in consultation/discussion with teachers. The remainder of the day can be spent working with young children, visiting schools, or meeting with parents.
Evenings are for her family, and time with her three children provides balance and perspective. She draws upon experiences from her job to share emotional stories of the work. One comes to mind when a child comes to therapy entirely nonverbal. He worked hard with assistive technology tools and began to communicate with those tools, and ultimately, he began using his own words in functional ways after many months of therapy. Some parents thought raising their child bilingually would slow her down. Instead, they discovered that by cultivating both languages, they had actually supported their child’s long-term development.
These stories reiterate her thinking that while communication growth can be illustrated in data, it is also accomplished in building connections, confidence, and participation.
Looking Toward The Future Of Speech And Language Care
Many professionals believe that the next decade will bring significant changes in the field, in terms of inclusivity, shared community connections, or even developing more support for caring for clients digitally. Jinan Erchid holds these aspirations and has continued to contribute through education, outreach, and direct service.
She refers both to her vision of creating opportunities for communication support outside of Canada, where access is low, or to family-first systems that allow families to have early intervention through their own means, linking families regardless of where they live or their income. Her long-term vision is to promote communication as a human right, as opposed to a specialty privilege.
A Continuing Commitment To Every Child And Family She Serves
Over her career, Jinan Erchid has been recognized for her ability to combine skill and empathy, cultural consideration, and ongoing support. The families she works with communicate feeling understood and thought of through the treatment process. The colleagues who collaborate with her admire her ability to marry evidence-based practices with community partnerships with a collaborative stance. Her clinical work reminds us of what matters in the field of speech and language, which isn’t found in the art of dramatic storylines, but in the daily practice of stamina, mindfulness, and believing in the capabilities of every child.
In a field of constant change, her perspective is a reminder that communication support means you are inviting children and families to come together to be heard, understood, and included.
