Mona Gardner is a speech-language pathologist on the Caribbean island of Antigua & Barbuda. Her Center for the Holistic Advancement of Therapeutic Services( CHATS) is the only such practice on the island where for the past five years, she and her team have been diligently working to change the invisible disability narrative on the island.
Her journey with speechlanguage pathology started within her household. Eighteen years ago, after her younger brother was born, daily she observed the difficulties her mom endured, knowing that something was a little bit different about her son, but not having access to resources for a diagnosis. Finding a professional to give advice or a diagnosis was challenging and hope within her household began to dissipate. At three years old, her brother showed the typical signs of a child who had delayed communication skills and was at risk for developing some sort of learning disability. He was a late talker, had constant ear infections and also had issues socializing at preschool. He then went on to Kindergarten and there too he was not succeeding academically- the teachers wanted him to repeat Kindergarten. Mona remembers the pain of watching her mom cry in despair as an institution blamed her for being the reason her son was not able to accomplish certain milestones, as expected. Specifically, it was a note telling her mom that it was her fault he had to repeat Kindergarten, because“ you are not spending enough time with your child.” Her brother was moved from school to school – four primary schools in total- and it was while he attended an international school on the island that had teachers on staff who were trained in special needs from Canada, that they were able to meet his learning needs. Although her brother changed school due to the closing of the international school, while at his next school he continued to flourish. Focus was then placed on his abilities, they concentrated on his strengths and from within him an entirely new personality and confidence emerged. Hope was restored to her family and Mona knew she had found her profession!
Her brother’ s diagnosis lit a fire in her to help families in similar
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