As a bilingual speech-language pathologist, HaeJi Lee is expanding access to care in diverse communities and helping more patients feel seen
HaeJi Lee first learned about speech-language pathology from her host mom. Originally from Seoul, South Korea, Lee studied abroad in the United States in high school.
“My host mom asked me if I’d ever heard of speech-language pathology — I hadn’t,” Lee said. “She said it would be a perfect fit because I speak two-languages, and I wanted to work with a special education population in a medical setting.”
Currently, there are only 5,193 Asian ASHA-certified speech-language pathologists (SLPs) — which makes up just about 0.02% of the total number of ASHA-certified SLPs, according to ASHA’s 2022 Member & Affiliate Profile. Lee fills a critical role for Korean American families, especially those whose first language is not English, that enables them to feel more comfortable and understood as they seek treatment.
When she first began practicing, Lee noticed that many of her Korean patients were skeptical of speech-therapy at first, since speech and language disorders are often not talked about as openly in their communities.
Lee experienced this with a non-speaking patients’ family. Yet overtime, she saw a change in the family as they participated in their child’s therapy sessions and practiced at home. Within a year, the child was speaking and interacting with their family and others.
“Seeing the change in the child with therapy and the parents’ attitude was inspiring because I saw how our work makes a difference in a patients’ and their family’s life,” Lee said.
Having her CCCs motivates Lee to maintain a high standard of care for her patients. She’s grateful for the access to resources and a community of other SLPs — especially those from diverse communities — to help if she ever faces challenges treating a patient’s need.
“In the field, there’s no one right answer and so many options depending on who you are treating,” Lee said. “My CCCs help me provide that individual service for each client.”
Lee believes that making a small difference each day in the lives of her patients will lead to a big difference in her community.
“Even on the hard days, I love what I do,” Lee said. “I want to support my own cultural community and serve as a bridge to help even more patients access critical care.”
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