"What do you want to be when you grow up?" When I reply that I want to be a speech pathologist, not too many people quite know what that is. I, too, did not know that there was a world of speech language pathologists (and audiologists) out there, not until it was when my little brother had to have one come into his home and help him work on his speech.

My little brother, Cristian, is currently six years old. He is speaking better now than he ever did; although, he does still have some trouble with certain sounds or words. For example, he cannot pronounce the "th" sound, so instead of saying "thanks," Cristian says "fanks" instead.

When he was younger, he was not babbling as much as he should have been. His first words were delayed, and as he got older, he was not speaking to the capacity of his peers. He was not speaking in full sentences, either, just fragments and words. He needed help with his speech.

He has childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), which is a motor speech disorder where the brain has trouble moving certain body parts ( tongue, lips, etc.) that are needed to produce speech. Due to this, children who have CAS have problems saying sounds, syllables and whole words. They may break down with multi-syllabic words because it is too complex for them to say.

A speech pathologist came into the home and helped him. At first, he was taught important words in sign language. Then, the speech pathologist helped him even further by helping him with his sounds, which in turn, helped him improve his vocabulary tremendously. He has improved so much over the years and still continues to go to speech therapy while in school. I am so proud of his progress!

Having a speech pathologist help Cristian inspired me to want to go down that career path. I found it fascinating, and I would love to help people improve and regain their speech.

I am now a freshman in college, studying communication sciences and disorders, which will allow me to receive my bachelor's degree. Majoring in this field will prepare me for a graduate study, allowing me to reach my ultimate goal of practicing as a speech language pathologist. I want to be able to help others, just as the speech pathologist did for my little brother.