Founded in 2018

Bilingual Speech Resources is a private practice collective of culturally resonsive speech-language pathologists and an online blog.

Founder and Editor of Bilingual Speech Resources, Nia Thomas, obtained her undergraduate degree in Communication Disorders and Black Studies with a minor in Linguistics from the State University of New York at New Paltz where she graduated magna cum laude and received the distinguished Chancellor’s Award for student excellence.

Nia went on to receive her Master’s in Science in Biobehavioral sciences at Teacher’s College, Columbia University where she completed an international externship working with deaf students in La Paz, Bolivia.

Throughout almost a decade in the Department of Education, Nia has witnessed firsthand the national trend of over-referring African American and Latinx students into special education programs (Losen & Orfield, 2002), a practice that significantly deteriorates student access to quality education. Throughout her career, she has both conducted research and implemented informed best practice to differentiate between language differences and language disorders. She has also facilitated response to intervention reading programs for English Language Learners and prepared professional development workshops to educate students, colleagues, and parents about current research.

From a 2019 conference presentation of “Decolonizing Grit: How to Highlight and Grow Resistance in Communities” to being recognized as a two-time ASHA Award for Continuing Education (ACE) winner, a 2018 Award Winner for the UFT’s Better Speech and Hearing Month, and a 2020 New Paltz Alumni Distinguished Service Award recipient, Nia has demonstrated her commitment to excellence in the field of speech and language pathology. In her expansion of Bilingual Speech Resources, Nia hopes to make the research and best practices behind culturally responsive speech therapy practice more widely available to both practitioners and families.