UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Undergraduate students in the Penn State Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) traveled to Belize during Spring Break 2024 to help provide speech support services to children and teens in the middle-income nation.

During the program, led by CSD faculty members Maegan Mapes, assistant professor, and Dawn Sowers, assistant research professor, the students helped provide speech services that were otherwise unavailable for Belizeans. This experience presented an opportunity for the students to gain experience they typically would not receive until graduate school.

Fifteen CSD students traveled through the coastal Caribbean nation of Belize to work with patients who needed speech and hearing services, including more significant needs, such as those who could not rely on speech alone to be heard or understood, were deaf, had Down syndrome or where autism was suspected. They volunteered in sites including Caye Caulker, San Ignacio, Belmopan and Belize City, which also allowed them to experience the culture of Belize.

A personal connection to making communication sciences a career 

Fourth year CSD students Trina Lord and Madison Diehl participated in the trip. Both developed a passion for a career in speech-language pathology and audiology in their youth.  

“I did a project in middle school on speech pathology,” Lord said. “Since then, this is what I wanted to do, because I was in speech therapy forever too.” 

Diehl had a rare medical condition that led her to want to help others with speech and communication challenges, which led her to pursue the field as a profession. 

“I had a rare medical anomaly that required jaw surgery to fix,” Diehl said. “I had issues with drooling, speaking and eating. Helping people who go through this every day or — just like me — have gone through a surgery and need help is something I really want to do.” 

Service and education making an impact 

The trip provided resources and professional attention to the complex communication needs of some of the Belizean people who have limited access to specialized services.  

“We heard there’s one speech pathologist that actually lives in Belize, and they serve the entire country," Diehl said. “There is no support for these individuals, so they were ecstatic to have our help. It was such a rewarding experience.” 

The students used American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate with a client about their experience with hearing aids. The client mentioned that the hearing aids they received at age six stopped working by the time they turned 12. Diehl said they explained that they were fully deaf after and saw little value in a hearing device when there was no one available to repair them. 

Lord said Therapy Abroad, the company that organized the trip, is making efforts to establish more prolonged and sustainable care for this population in Belize.  

A stable presence of speech therapy professionals in Belize would ease the burden of patients needing to go overseas to receive treatment, which is the only option for many Belizeans at this time, the students said. The time needed to receive care or repair a cochlear implant device, for example, would significantly decrease if they had access to professionals within their borders.  

As a result of their experience, several students have adjusted their future career plans to include eliminating the barrier to access for speech therapy services outside of the U.S. 

“I would love to work with English language learners if they are experiencing a disorder and need help,” Diehl said. “It was very interesting to see how people in the U.S. are in a bubble as they can access the care they need, compared to people in low and middle-income nations. We saw kids with stutters who spoke Spanish, working with that population was something I had never considered before. However, seeing how many children and adults were seeking treatment in Belize was eye-opening for me.” 

Cultural nuance in action

The students said they also learned the importance of avoiding misdiagnosis of speech disorders by being aware of nuances in the English-based Creole language the Belizeans speak.  

Children who come from households where English isn’t their first spoken language could be misdiagnosed with a speech disorder simply because of differences between English, Spanish and the English-based Creole that serves as the lingua franca in Belize, explained Diehl.

“We learned that it's important to understand the distinction between a language difference and a language disorder,” Diehl said. “A lot of children are misdiagnosed because they speak or use grammar and syntax differently. They get labeled as someone who needs speech therapy, but that's just how they talk. It was important to take cultural sensitivity into account.”  

Students said they learned about the children's needs through nonverbal communication activities to navigate language barriers. The children completed puzzles, played games and utilized picture books while the Penn State students interacted with the children to complete screenings and evaluations of each child's needs. 

Education Abroad 

Lord and Diehl both said they wanted the opportunity to experience another country's culture, but without the commitment of devoting an entire semester abroad. 

“I have always been one of those people that wants to travel everywhere, but I've been nowhere,” Lord said. “I got my passport for this trip. It was my first time out of the country, and I was grateful to receive financial support through the Schreyer Honors College to help make it possible.” 

In addition to experiencing a different culture, the students were able to put what they have learned in the classroom about Deaf culture and signing into practice in the real-world. Diehl said communicating effectively with children whose primary language was sign language was remarkable. 

“Trina and I both participate in American Sign Language classes and clubs at Penn State,” Diehl said. “We got to sign with deaf children who were getting evaluated for hearing aids at the only school for special education in Belize. That was amazing because I had never signed with a person who was deaf before.”  

Diehl and Lord agreed that the combination of travel and the opportunity to use ASL with people who speak it as their primary form of communication was a major incentive for choosing this education abroad experience. 

“It made me feel better traveling with people who knew what they were doing,” Lord said. “Going into the speech-language pathology field, you can't do much other than shadow until you're in grad school, and internships largely are not available. This trip provided us with experiential learning that we do not have access to in the United States and gave us the perspective of both speech-language pathology and audiology.”  

Learning to be flexible in Belize 

The students faced many challenges out of their comfort zone, according to the faculty members on the trip who worked closely with the students. But they saw the students become more adaptable as the trip went on.

“Traveling to a middle-income country is a unique experience and hopefully equips the students to be increasingly sensitive to infrastructure and supports that not all people can access,” said Sowers, who serves as augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) research and clinical outreach coordinator for the department. “It challenges students to recognize how their support can be responsive to the culture and the environment they are part of versus thinking everything needs to change to what they are most familiar with.” 

The group had discussions about ways to help the people of Belize that would have a lasting effect, but they realized there are many barriers in the country preventing progress, such as lack of government buy-in to provide support and resources needed to help, according to Mapes. 

Eager for more 

Even though the students’ experience pushed them out of their comfort zone they said they loved the experience and were eager to go back or visit other countries.

“As of now, Madison and I are trying to go on a trip again this coming spring break,” Lord said. “Therapy Abroad also offers similar trips to Bulgaria, Greece and Thailand.”

For information about education abroad experiences at Penn State, visit The Penn State Alternative Breaks (PSAB) program, Center for Global Studies or Penn State Global Programs.