For many parents, questions about speech and communication can bring uncertainty and worry. Is my child developing normally? Should I be concerned? Where do I go for help?
For Erika Abdelaziz-Oum, a bilingual speech-language pathologist, the answers begin with understanding families, listening closely, and recognizing that communication is far more than words.
Growing up between languages and cultures
“I’m a mom. I am a speech-language pathologist,” she said. “I was born in Brooklyn. I’m a New York City girl.”
Raised in the Bronx by a Peruvian mother and Egyptian father, she grew up in a multilingual and multicultural environment that shaped her understanding of people who often struggle to find a sense of belonging.
“Being in that multilingual, multicultural home environment made me curious,” she said. “It made me open to trying to find where I fit in New York City.”
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That experience also gave her empathy for children and families facing communication barriers.
“I think that home life helped me understand those who did not fit into whether it was a community or a school environment,” she explained.
Now licensed after more than 20 years in the field, Abdelaziz-Oum says she feels ready to bring updated knowledge and culturally responsive practices to the families she serves.
“We can’t look at it as a child who was only shown English,” she said. “We have to consider the environment they’re coming from, the language, the home.”
Communication starts early
Working with children and special-needs families, Abdelaziz-Oum says some of her most meaningful experiences involve helping parents understand how they can support their children.
“When parents are really looking to see, ‘How can I help my child? What can I do?’—that’s important,” she said.
For parents worried about developmental delays, she encourages them to trust their instincts.
“They know their child best,” she said.
Communication begins long before children form complete sentences.
“Even in infancy, are they cooing with you? Are they babbling with you?” she asked. “That rapport, that communication starts very young.”
She described those interactions as important building blocks.
“Have you ever heard babies go ‘ahh,’ and a parent goes, ‘Yes, I’m hearing you, I’m listening to you?’ That joint attention, that social communication aspect starts very early.”
Communication is more than words
Abdelaziz-Oum hopes families understand that communication extends beyond speech.
“It’s never just words,” she said.
Children communicate through eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, and body language.
“I would just hold my children and we’d look at each other and blink and giggle,” she recalled. “It was our communication of, ‘I see you, I feel you, I hear you.’”
She also highlighted a common misconception among multilingual families: the belief that children with communication delays should stop using their home language.
“That takes away identity and family connection,” she said. “That’s harmful to a person’s identity.”
Instead, she encourages families to embrace their home language while understanding each child’s unique developmental process.
“They know some concepts,” she explained. “They just know it in their home language.”
Asking for help changes everything
Abdelaziz-Oum also shared her own experience as a mother.
When her son turned two, she noticed signs that concerned her.
“I said in my head, ‘This is lasting too long, for too many days, for months. Something is different,’” she recalled.
Eventually, she sought help and connected with a developmental pediatrician.
“He changed everything about how I viewed my own child,” she said.
That experience strengthened her belief in the importance of seeking support.
“It really was where it started,” she said.
For caregivers feeling overwhelmed or isolated, her message remains simple:
“You are not alone.”
“There are support groups out there,” she said. “Reach out… There’ll be places and communities where you will find resources.”
“Don’t give up, you will find your supportive community.”
