Written by Nicole DelGrosso
Tracy DelGrosso was born on January 5th, 1969. Tracy is 54-years-old. Tracy grew up in Woodhaven, NY with her parents and two older sisters, Marianne and Donna. Tracy went to Queens College to become a Speech-Language Pathologist. Tracy graduated with her masters degree in 1991. Tracy has three daughters; Jessica, Nicole, and Julie.
Tracy (my mom) is a speech-language pathologist working in an elementary school in Ozone Park, NY. I conducted our interview after her day at work. She has been working as a speech-language pathologist for 31 years. During our interview, I asked my mom what made her want to become a speech-language pathologist. Her response was "I have always wanted to help others, and while going to school I realized that speech therapy was a perfect way to do so".
My grandmother was diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia in 2012. Primary progressive aphasia is a type of dementia which is caused by damage to parts of the brain that control language, personality, and emotions. This disease took a toll on my grandmother's life, causing her to lose all language abilities. Due to my mom being a speech-language pathologist, she was able to assist my grandmother in speech therapy sessions. This was truly inspiring to me, so I asked my mom how it felt to make an impact on her mom's life. My mom stated that "although it was one of the hardest things I ever had to experience, I am grateful for being able to help grandma the best way I could".
We all know how hard it was to live through the Covid-19 pandemic. I was able to watch my mom give speech therapy to her students at home via Zoom. This was extremely hard to adjust to, but it was truly inspiring to see how my mom was still able to help her students even though they were not together in person. I asked my mom how it felt to be an essential worker during a global pandemic, she stated "it was a hard but rewarding experience being able to still help my students from our homes". My mom is my biggest role model, and has inspired me to become a speech-language pathologist.
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