Where Care Meets Skill: Center provides vital community services, learning opportunities for students

For more than 60 years, the Edgar R. Garrett Speech and Hearing Center has been providing speech, language, swallowing and cognitive services to individuals of all ages, while offering NMSU graduate students pursuing careers as speech-language pathologists gain hands-on experience.

“The Communication Disorders department has helped me grow immensely as a student and prepare me to be a professional in the field of speech-language pathology in many ways,” says Aubry Anaya, second-year student and graduate assistant. “Professors, supervisors and clinical educators have done an incredible job of offering mentorship and teaching us graduate students critical thinking skills required for treatment and assessment.”

NMSU graduate clinicians are studying to become speech-language pathologists. They are offered the opportunity to provide therapeutic intervention to clients on-site in the clinic and do so under the supervision of licensed speech-language pathologists. The department helps students secure part-time and full-time externships not only throughout Las Cruces and the surrounding areas, but also across the state of New Mexico and out-of-state locations.

“I enjoy supporting our students as they grow, learn and develop the skills needed to become successful professionals, who will eventually become my peers,” says Julie Borrego, clinic director and assistant professor. “On the same note, I appreciate that we have to opportunity to offer services to the community while providing students with valuable exposure to diverse settings and populations.”

“My favorite part of my job as a graduate assistant at NMSU is being able to assist faculty with important duties, and gain knowledge about what it takes to be a great supervisor or professor,” Anaya says.

The clinic serves people of all ages. Their array of services includes providing evaluations and treatment in areas such as, aphasia, child language disorders, articulation disorders, voice and resonance disorders, pragmatics and social skills, apraxia, acquired language and cognitive disorders, augmentative and alternative communication aural rehabilitation, fluency and stuttering, and accent modification, with a recent addition of a specialized feeding clinic.

“We have a little baby that we've been seeing for dysphagia since she was about six months old and she is about to turn 2,” Borrego says. “She has had a feeding tube throughout this time, but can now eat and drink certain foods. We are also focusing on facilitating functional communication. It’s truly rewarding to work with clients of all ages across the lifespan.”

Every semester, the Edgar R. Garrett Speech and Hearing Center serves about 40 clients in the clinic and provides services within the Las Cruces community. It provides hearing screenings within the community and surrounding areas for free. The center has conducted hearing screenings at church events, Mesilla Valley Pharmacy’s block party, child care facilities and preschools.

The center has screened upwards of 350 children in the local head start and preschool programs in fall 2024. The students also attend settings including Casa de Oro Skilled Nursing Facility, The Arbors at Vista Living Care and the Las Cruces Catholic School to provide interventions within the community. Every summer, the center’s graduate students and faculty co-host a summer camp for children with autism in partnership with Hearts for Autism Las Cruces.

“Everybody in this department leads by example by showing us what it’s like to be supportive and thoughtful as professionals,” Anaya says. “It is truly a very special group of educators and supervisors that want to see you succeed. They make you feel so supported and safe that you can go to them about anything because you know they really care you as a person, your education and clinical experience.”

“We have a strong base of repeat clients and community members who return for our services due to the welcoming, family-oriented atmosphere that we provide,” Borrego says. “I am grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with both the students and the community, fostering relationships that encourage and promote mutual support and benefit.”

For more information, visit https://cd.nmsu.edu/about-erg/new-erg-clinic.html.