Recognizing Dr. Prathibha Karanth’s Contributions
Recognizing Dr. Prathibha Karanth’s Contributions
In today’s “Wall of Fame” series, we recognize the exemplary contributions of Dr. Prathibha Karanth’s. Dr. Karanth is the Founder Director and the Managing Trustee of The Communication DEALL Trust in India. She has won several awards for her outstanding work, authored many books, published hundreds of scientific papers, and has worked relentlessly for children and adults with communication or speech disorders in India. Dr. Karanth’s contributions have carved a special place for India in the global Speech and Hearing community. Here are a few excerpts from our interview.
Q. Please share with us your typical day as the Director of The Communication DEALL Trust?
A typical day would entail attending to administrative issues at the H.O at first. On my consultation days, this would be followed by meeting with families. and later with our senior staff to discuss and follow up matters related to the clinic, diagnostics, training, and affiliates. The rest of the day is taken up with issues related to our continuing scaling up of clinical, training, materials production, and some amount of research including reviews.
Picture: Com- DEALL Parent certification program
Q. What inspired you to pursue Speech and Hearing Sciences?
Pure chance. AIISH had just been set up at Mysore and an external examiner for my practical exams of the final year of my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, (who was from Mysore) mentioned the program during my viva, given my interest in Psychology and Communication (I was a debater) and suggested that I might find it interesting!
Q. Please share some of your memorable experiences working in the field of Speech-Language Pathology.
For me, the most memorable experiences are when non-speaking children acknowledge that I bat for them and relate to me (I have numerous varied instances of these) and when families acknowledge that the help that we provided in early childhood had a significant impact on the life of the child as s/he grew.
Picture: Com-DEALL affiliate training Picture: Peer group training for staff
Q. Has being a woman been a challenge in accomplishing what you have achieved?
Yes and no. Apart from the usual prejudices and pressures that were faced by women pursuing a career 50 years ago, in our field, there were unstated assumptions that however good you may be academic, as a woman you were to pursue/better suited for ‘the caring clinical side’! Fortunately, I hailed from a matrilineal community which had instilled in me the confidence that a woman was entitled to pursue her life as she thought fit and need not necessarily go by the patriarchal model.
Picture: WAAD Function- Release of awareness posters
Q. Your advice for students aspiring to become Speech-Language Pathologists/ Audiologists?
I hope you are in this field because it truly appeals to you. If yes, try to identify aspects of it that you find fascinating and challenging; then pursue it as best as you can along with like-minded professionals within our field as well as other related disciplines. The recognition and money will follow and most important of all the satisfaction of a life well-lived when you eventually look back. Dr. Prathibha Karanth’s
Picture: Workshop hosted by TCDT
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Mam you are such an inspiration to the professionals in the field and for aspiring students . Your tremendous work towards children with communication difficulties specially Autism will withstand for generations.
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