Alumni
Helping Children With Speech, Language Disorders Lifelong Pursuit for Sancibrian
Helping children with autism, cleft palate, cerebral palsy and other language and learning disabilities has been a lifelong pursuit for Sherry Sancibrian, associate professor and program director of Speech-Language Pathology in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
Sancibrian has been helping children with speech and language disorders since 1978, when she received her master�s degree in Speech Pathology from Texas Tech University. Graduates are considered Health Sciences Center alumni following the Speech-Language Pathology program�s move in 1994 into the School of Allied Health Sciences at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
�In my field, patients range from newborn to the elderly,� she says. �In working with children, I get the privilege of seeing kids who can�t talk at all progress to being able to finally communicate with their families and friends.�
One such patient was a 2-year-old who was classically autistic and behaved so aggressively that he was expelled from preschool. �Now he�s a fourth-grader who talks, reads and is participating in a regular classroom. That�s the most rewarding part of my job,� she says.
Sancibrian joined the Health Sciences Center faculty in 1986. She was chosen Outstanding Faculty Member by Mortar Board and Omicron Delta Kappa, received the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award for the School of Allied Health Sciences, received the President�s Excellence in Teaching Award and earned the YWCA Women of Excellence award for education.
In 1994, her colleagues and former students established the Sherry Sancibrian Scholarship Endowment Fund, which provides a scholarship annually to a graduate student in Speech-Language Pathology at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
In addition to her duties at the Health Sciences Center, which include coordinating the Lubbock Cleft Palate Clinic, Sancibrian serves as director of the South Plains Autism Network and as chairwoman of the State Board of Examiners in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. She is an editor of Communication Disorders Quarterly and a Legislative Councilor for the governing body of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. She also collaborates with the College of Education at Texas Tech on grant projects that are usually related to autism.
She also volunteers for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation�s activities for survivors. It�s been almost 10 years since Sancibrian battled cancer. She now makes it a priority to talk with others who have been diagnosed with the illness.
�It helps me to put things in perspective,� she says. �As a cancer survivor, I�ve learned to be less obsessive about things that really aren�t so important.�
Sancibrian has been married for 33 years to her husband, Sandy, and they have a 23-year-old son, Kevin, who is a mechanical engineering technology student at Texas Tech.
After more than 25 years working as a speech-language pathologist in a variety of settings including schools, early childhood intervention programs and hospitals, Sancibrian is still passionate about her work.
�I love teaching about speech and language disorders, and I really get a kick out of seeing our students get excited, especially when they start to see major improvement in patients and realize that therapy works.�