It’s the season of thanks and we’re thankful for the incredible staff and faculty that help to make the Wolf School the incredible place that it is. We’re especially thankful for all of our new staff members who we’ll be introducing to you over the coming months. This month, meet our new SLP – Emily Gavitt and learn more about her in this month’s We Are Wolf interview!

1. Can you tell us a bit about your background prior to coming to Wolf?

As a true Rhode Island native, I had no intention of leaving the state for schooling and attended Rhode Island College for my undergraduate degree in Communication. I then took roughly five years off from schooling to travel, grow individually, work, and gain as much experience as possible through volunteering at a local public school with an SLP. It was during this time I truly fell in love with the profession. Prior to coming to Wolf, I worked in a pediatric private practice focusing on feeding and speech therapy while working part-time in tele-therapy.  From my combined experiences I have been able to work with children as young as 18 months through geriatrics. I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to dabble in a little bit of everything including articulation, genetic syndromes, language, memory, executive functioning, neurogenic disease, voice therapy, craniofacial anomalies, augmentative & alternative communication (AAC), traumatic brain injury and concussion, head and neck cancer, post-stroke and social communication. 

2. What motivated you to want to work with Complex Learners?

For me, I have been surrounded by the world of Complex Learners all my life. My mother was a special education teacher assistant in the same school system I attended from elementary to high school. I spent the majority of summers between pre-k and elementary school attending adaptive summer camps and extended school years with her. During my time between undergraduate and graduate school, I volunteered with an SLP who specialized in AAC. My first day on the job was going to troubleshoot an eye-gaze system used by an elementary school girl whom my mother happened to be the one-on-one TA for. It was during this experience that I truly understood communication is a basic human right and access should be provided no matter what the barriers are. 

3. What do you think is the most misunderstood/overlooked part of being an SLP? 

I think the most misunderstood part of being an SLP is that we are just “speech teachers” and therefore only provide articulation services. Our professional scope of practice covers so much across the lifespan and across a multitude of settings that our services could be used for all activities of daily living. I have SLP friends who are working with newborns in the NICU and those who are working with patients in hospice, as well as those who work in private practices, acute care, outpatient, and schools. The field is so vast that I’m not sure even “speech and language” truly covers it. 

4. What has been the most surprising thing about working at the Wolf School?

The most surprising thing about working at the Wolf School thus far is the support from all the staff members. I have never felt so welcomed in any job previously as I did when transitioning to the Wolf School. In addition, I am continuously surprised by how collaborative the individual classroom staff are including the classroom teacher, OT, SLP, and TAs.  When entering a school setting I never expected the collaboration that occurs at the Wolf School. Other specialties were available in previous settings, but I never had to opportunity to co-treat even when I felt it was in the client’s best interest due to the demands of therapy. Now, that collaboration is an integral part of how the classroom operates. 

5. Do you have a favorite holiday season tradition?

One of my family’s holiday traditions is to have a big Christmas Eve dinner and stay up til midnight to exchange gifts with each other. The older we get, the harder it is to actually stay up but after we all take a nap we make a Christmas Day brunch with cinnamon rolls and fruit salad. Then, we open our stockings and spend the rest of the day lounging around in our pjs. It’s a little unconventional but we have been doing it since I was in high school. 

Welcome, Emily! We are so grateful to have your skills, creativity, and compassion at Wolf! To learn more about other Wolf Staff, read some of our past We Are Wolf interviews!