August 31, 2022 | Erin Bluvas, bluvase@sc.edu
Erin Langhorne was happy in her career when she began considering a shift to the field of communication sciences and disorders (COMD). Right after her 2012 graduation, the College of Charleston psychology alumna began supporting local children and young adults on the autism spectrum as a behavioral therapist. Langhorne worked under the supervision of a behavioral analyst and a speech-language pathologist, who encouraged her to pursue a career in the COMD field.
“She highly recommended that I apply for the COMD program as she believed my niche in work was on cultivating verbal and non-verbal means of communication in my clients,” Langhorne says of her decision to attend the Arnold School’s M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology – Distance Education program.
I hope to someday be like the incredible professors that I had the honor to learn from and instill knowledge to those entering this beautiful field.
-Erin Langhorne, M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology, 2022
Then her nephew was diagnosed with a language delay. Soon after, a stroke led her grandfather to experience speech and swallowing difficulties.
“After these experiences, the field of speech-language pathology became very personal for me, and I felt drawn to the field even more,” she says.
During her program, Langhorne continued working as a behavioral therapist while gaining clinical COMD experience at schools and medical centers in the Charleston area. She found mentors in graduate director Elizabeth Barnes and clinical associate professor Caryn Melvin.
“The two of them have heavily contributed to my speech-language pathology knowledge base,” Langhorne says. “They have taught me, challenged me and inspired me to be a confident clinician. I aspire to be more like them every day.”
An August graduate, Langhorne will soon begin her clinical fellowship at Trident Medical Center, where she will support adults in acute care and inpatient rehab as well as children in the Center's outpatient clinic. Naturally, she is interested in continuing to work with people on the autism spectrum, but her master’s program also sparked an interest in the medical side of speech-language pathology – particularly aphasia. Long term, she would like to become a faculty member herself.
“I hope to someday be like the incredible professors that I had the honor to learn from and instill knowledge to those entering this beautiful field,” Langhorne says.