Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Schoenbrodt.
Hi Lisa, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I have been a certified speech language pathologist for 40 years and Professor of Speech Language Pathology at Loyola University of Maryland for 33 years. While I remain engaged clinically working with children and adolescents with speech and language challenges, my focus has been on teaching and research in higher education. About 8 years ago, along with my colleague and partner, Dr. Leah Katherine Saal, Professor of Literacy at Loyola University of Maryland, we received a grant from the Ethan Saylor Commission through the Maryland Department of Disabilities to create a role play scenario curriculum where people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) were directly involved in training law enforcement to understand best practices in communicating with individuals with IDD in crisis situations. This grant came about after the unfortunate and preventable death of Ethan Saylor, a young adult with Down syndrome in Frederick County Maryland. Leah and I developed a curriculum that uses Improv as part of our train-the-trainer model. We have received several other grants to train not only law enforcement, but EMS and supervisors of Corrections officers through various agencies. Because of this need, Leah and I developed our company, LeadAbility LLC, for which I am the CEO and Leah is the COO, which provides training for people in all fields. We recently trained all members of a private law firm in Baltimore, and public defenders in the state of New York. Our work cannot exist without our employees, who are individuals with lived experience having IDD’s.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Nothing is ever smooth. Our biggest hurdle is that we are working with public agencies (Police, Fire, EMS) and while they all know the value of our training, they often do not have money from their budgets to pay for training. This fact is very problematic because our employees, with lived experience with IDD, are not volunteers. They are paid employees and spend a great deal of time with us in training for whoever we are working with. Our role play scenarios are tailored to each entity, so we do not have one set group of training scenarios that we provide all the time.
Another hurdle for our employees particularly is transportation. Many adults with IDD drive, but many do not. Those that do not must rely on public transportation, which is Maryland is tough. Let me explain, we have an employee who lives in Baltimore City and is very independent in getting around by public transportation and lives independently as well. However, when we have trainings outside of the city, public transportation will not take him beyond city limits. Therefore, he has to rely on car pooling with other of our employees (who are being transported by family members) or an Uber, which is very expensive. This example is one of many that we have.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
As I said earlier, I am a speech language pathologist and certified by the American Speech Language Hearing Association and licensed in the state of Maryland. I work through our business and as a contractor clinically with school age children and adolescents with speech and language needs and also with adults with intellectual and developmental disorders. I also am a Professor of Speech Language Pathology in the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing-Sciences at Loyola University Maryland where I have taught in the Undergraduate and Graduate program as well as Chaired the Department for 13 years, and have written numerous articles and books on topics related to my clinical expertise and received grants for our most recent work in training emergency and legal professionals on best ways to interact with adults with disabilities. I am really proud of all of my work but particularly that latter as there is little to no research in this area. Leah and I have been invited to many places to speak on our work including with Judges in the state of Maryland. We were also part of a very esteemed group to participate in a roundtable for the National Institute of Justice for the creation of the first white paper in this area.
I am a very hands-on person and believe in training that involves listening and doing as this type of practice facilitates learning that is sustainable.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I am the youngest of 3; quite a bit younger than my older siblings. I swam on the swim team and did the normal things most children growing up in “my” time did. In other words, no social media, you played outside and came to dinner when you heard your mom call for you! I played the piano, played field hockey as the goalie in high school and met my husband in 10th grade. I went to University of Maryland College Park for my Bachelors degree, James Madison University for my Masters degree and the Johns Hopkins University for my doctoral degree. As I said before, I married my high school sweetheart and we will be married 40 years on October 12th! We have 3 wonderful children and a son-in-law, and are Australian shepherd owners or otherwise known as our fur children. We currently have 3. We live in the house I grew up in Ellicott City MD. My husband and I are very active swimming, walking, biking, and stand up paddle boarding. We love to be outside. And I love animals. I continue to volunteer for adoption organizations who can help people maintain their pets in their homes and for the Australian Shepherd Rescue of the Mid Atlantic evaluating applications of people who want to provide a loving home.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.leadabilityllc.com
- Instagram: @leadability_llc
- Other: https://linktr.ee/leadabilityllc
