EARLY HISTORY OF BCASLPA - by Elaine Clemons
In October 1953, my husband, Alan B. Clemons, was appointed as a Speech Therapist at the G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre, where he was to provide a therapy programme and prepare a proposal for the University of B.C. (Department of Medicine) for the establishment of a training programme for Speech Therapists. My husband had been Director of the Speech and Hearing Clinic at Witswatersrand University, Johannesburg, South Africa for 11 years previous to this appointment. His appointment had been suggested by the G.F. Strong Centre and others in B.C. who were concerned over the lack of trained Speech Therapists and the fact that few were interested in coming to B.C.
Upon our arrival we met: Marie Crickmay who was probably the first qualified professional to arrive in B.C. (her early history is reported in her article in Communique in October, 1989 issue); Jean Skelhorne who worked at G.F. Strong and who had done an excellent job with Cerebral Palsied cases; Miss Torrance who was in Private Practice and who had a degree from an American University; Stella Gysin (Health Centre for Children at V.G.H.) and Elfreida Webb (Private Practice, with a Speech Diploma from England). We ran a notice in the local paper inviting those interested in forming a Speech Therapy Association to attend a meeting in December, 1953. About 12 people attended including some of the above and also teachers of English, Elocutionists, Teachers of the Hearing Impaired and those who had taken a few courses.
Discussions and meetings took place, as we tried to establish criteria that would be reciprocal with that required by ASHA. By 1955-56-57, Dorothy Washington, Margaret Slind, Jean Semple and other qualified persons arrived and we were registered as an Association. This fledgling Association, which had to establish standards, did not have an easy birth as the term 'Speech Therapist' was used rather loosely in those days, and we had a great deal of public education to cover. Presentations were made to the Hall Royal Commission, 1958-59, which, unfortunately confused us with the School for the Deaf when the report was finally published. We did not fare much better with our submission to the Chant Royal Commission on Education, 1959. I do not have a copy of the Association's submissions but do have one submitted by my husband.
Unfortunately, the training programme at UBC did not develop, as the Dean of the Medical School, who was the chief proponent, accepted a position elsewhere and the School of Dentistry took preference. The training programme did not materialize until John Gilbert arrived in 1967. My husband died in 1963. The Kinsmen Foundation supported, with Federal Government Assistance, a Preschool Hearing Disorders Programme beginning in 1955, later adding a School Age Programme in 1958 with Dr. David Kendall as Director.
In 1966, this service was assumed by the Ministry of Health. Elizabeth Lowe (nee McMahon) reported on this work in a three year study funded by the Kinsmen and published in 1964. Patience Towler was appointed Supervisor, Speech Therapy Services for the province in 1968 and remained in this position until 1973.
G.F. Strong continued to employ Speech Therapists and Joyce Edwards who was later at the training programme in UBC was among them. She has promised to write about her memories of our Association at this time. Marie Crickmay worked in Victoria Schools as a part-time then full-time Speech Therapist in the early 1950's. In May of 1959, Elaine Clemons was appointed as "Speech Consultant" with the Vancouver School Board. With a school population of 60,000 the appointment was almost entirely consultative with cursory examinations of the 1300 children referred in the first year, referrals to other agencies (of which there were very few), conferences and workshops with parents and teachers, and a general sense of frustration as the powers that be refused to employ any one in the V.S.B. system unless they held a teaching certificate as well as a degree in Speech/Language Pathology. This policy was not changed until 1974. The North Shore Health Unit employed Ethelynn McDermott in 1960 and Burnaby Mental Health Centre and Woodlands employed Speech Therapists as early as 1957.
Association Growth
Annual reports are on file and it will be noted that two of the most
pressing problems dealt with in those early years were:
1. Standards for membership and possible licensing
2. Increasing the public's awareness of our profession and the extent of our competencies.
The professional liaison with the Teachers of the Deaf began when both professional groups were so small in numbers. The liaison discontinued in 1970 and a refinement and updating of our standards continues.
In 1966-67, members were assessed a levy to pay for the legal fees for our proposed licensing which were returned proportionately when we could not achieve standards we felt were satisfactory. My deep apologies for oversights in this brief summary, also for any inaccuracies. I trust this may be of some use to our association.
Best Wishes,
Elaine Clemons
Biographical Note on Elaine Clemons
Elaine was involved in teaching and/or delivering services to speech language disordered children for over 52 years. She attended Teacher Training College in Alabama in the 1930s. Her first position was in a school for cerebral palsied children where she was paid $15.00 a month including room and board. She became interested in Speech Therapy after observing a clinician working with the C.P. students and attended the University of Iowa for post graduate work as a Speech Clinician in 1939-40.
Elaine met and married Alan Clemons, a Canadian who had a law degree and who was then completing his Ph.D. in Speech Therapy in Iowa. Her husband took a position at the University of Witswatersrand in South Africa in the mid-1940s. Elaine was not able to join him immediately so worked in the school system in St. Petersburg, Florida, setting up Speech Services. In 1946, she followed her husband to South Africa and worked as headmistress in a school for cerebral palsied children. Elaine and her husband and children came to Vancouver in 1953.
Dr. Clemons worked as a Speech Language Pathologist at the G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre and was also involved in negotiating for the development of a school to train Speech Language Pathologists at UBC. During this period, Elaine taught courses in child development in the UBC Schools of Home Economics and Nursing and ran a small private practice. In 1959, Elaine was employed by the Vancouver School Board as a Speech Consultant. Her duties were to screen 60,000 children and provide workshops to teachers and parents. During the 1960's, one or two more Speech Therapists joined her at the School Board. She obtained her M.A. in Special Education at UBC in 1964 and studied and worked at the Institute of Logopedics in Wichita, Kansas.
In 1970, she took a 2 year leave to work with the Canadian Forces in Lahr, West Germany, setting up a program in the schools. Elaine returned to the Co-ordinator position with the School Board in 1972 but moved to an itinerant position in 1974. She officially "retired" from the school system in 1978 but has carried on with her private practice for the last 12 years, setting up services in Clearwater and consulting to school districts in Bella Coola and Fort Nelson.
Sadly, Elaine passed away in March 1999 and will be greatly missed by colleagues and friends. She was a true pioneer.