District Speech Language Pathologist Earns State Honor; TSHF Names Angelia Daniel Recipient of the Burtis/Vogel and Elkins Community Service Award

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The award recognized the 28-year veteran for her work in the Houston Community.

Angelia Daniel

The Texas Speech-Language and Hearing Foundation (TSHF) recently named Angelia Daniel from Kujawa Elementary School the recipient of the 2022 Burtis/Vogel and Elkins Community Service Award for her submission regarding her work in the Houston community. There are more than 5,000 members in the Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association (TSHA).

Tracy Bailey, executive director of special education, describes Daniel as dedicated and passionate about supporting her students, increasing family engagement, and helping other speech pathologists.

“We are so lucky to have Angelia are grateful for the work she does for Aldine students,” said Tracy Bailey, executive of special education. “Angelia is known on her campus for her dedication to students and children in the Houston area. Angelia gives great feedback and encouragement to students and families and tips and suggestions to work on at home. Her work helps students make great progress. She is also a well-respected team player who is always willing to collaborate. Angelia has a great heart and only gives 110% all of the time. Everyone in Aldine is so proud of her accomplishment.”

Daniel has served as a speech pathologist at Kujawa ES for 14 years. Bailey added that Daniel is a respected staff member at the campus and district levels.

“I have worked with Angelia for over 10 years, and the excitement that I see from our students once they have finished a session with her is a joy to see. Her innovative approach to teaching our students to become communicators, risk-takers, and lifelong learners is evident daily,” said Principal Kim Jenkins. “Angelia can see what each child brings to the class. Her whole teaching approach involves finding and using children’s unique strengths to help them overcome their struggles and develop a positive self-concept. She connects with families to ensure every child has a voice and is very active in the community. We love having Angelia on campus. She is a trailblazer in speech therapy.”

Burtis/Vogel and Elkins Community Service Award is bestowed to speech-language pathologists who exceed expectations in providing services that benefit the community at large. The award fund is intended to advance their work.

Supporting and Increasing Diversity in the Profession

As a speech-language pathologist, Daniel is keenly attuned to the diverse populations she serves. So it was surprising to her how minorities represent less than 8% of speech-language pathologists nationwide. Daniel can understand how being a young student or professional in the field where they are the minority can be challenging and a bit isolating. As Daniel reflected on her early years in the profession, she realized that she was often reluctant to express her thoughts on specific issues. That is until she met a mentor who helped Daniel navigate the field, find her voice, and claim her role as a leader.

According to Daniel, she has made it her mission to help diversify the field of speech-language pathology so that the profession represents therapists from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. In 2019, she chartered the Houston Chapter of Sisters in Speech Therapy and Audiology (SISTAs), an organization dedicated to increasing and retaining the number of minority speech-language pathologists and audiologists. Daniel currently serves as the Houston Chapter President. During her tenure, the Houston Chapter of SISTAs established mentor programs at several universities in various states, established a scholarship fund for minority women in the field of speech-language pathology and audiology, and has worked diligently to be of service to Houston area communities.

Helping Area Families

Since the pandemic, domestic violence has increased, forcing many women and children to enter shelters. The SISTAs Houston Chapter provided Christmas toys and books for children at The Mission of Yahweh in Houston to support parents and children in peril. Realizing the ongoing need for support, I created SISTAs’ Storytime with the Mission of Yahweh. The weekly summer reading program involves area speech-language pathologists volunteering their time and talents to read character-building books at the shelter. The SISTAs Houston Chapter also donated new books to the shelter and created a culturally diverse library for children.

Doing What Needs to Be Done

She is also dedicated to mentoring and supporting students and young professionals in the field, using materials that represent the varied populations they all serve. For example, Daniel dove into utilizing teletherapy when schools were forced to close and temporarily switch to remote learning. Daniel quickly realized that there was a lack of evidence-based materials for students with severe communication disorders and children with autism to use during this time. Once again, she looked to solve a problem, creating engaging stories with functional objects and parent activities for her students and private patients. Daniel would drop the stories and materials on their doorsteps. Almost immediately, she saw increased engagement from both the children and parents.

Seeing children’s communication skills blossom while using her stories, she decided to fulfill one of her professional dreams and create and publish a line of speech therapy materials, The Functional Language at Home and School Series. The series depicts characters reflective of the population she and her colleagues serve. They are from various racial and ethnic backgrounds and illustrate characters with disabilities (e.g., hearing impairments, non-ambulatory).

“It is an honor to be recognized for my work in the field of speech-language pathology and my contributions to the Houston community,” said Daniel. “I decided early in my life and career that I would always strive to help others and do my part to make positive changes in the world, so to be bestowed with the Community Service Award is especially important to me.”

Daniel will be honored at the TSHA Convention on February 25, 2022, in Fort Worth, Texas. To learn more, visit the Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association Association website.