Hello Peabody School Community! My name is Allison Adler Smith and I am a speech therapist. I have been helping out at the Peabody School while some therapists are taking a leave of absence. I love the fun and creative atmosphere here. I have also worked at the Cambridgeport School, which I enjoyed as well. Before coming to the Cambridge School District, I worked at a special school in Beverly for kids with moderate to severe disabilities. It was challenging but also very rewarding to find creative ways to help those very special kids. Before that, I worked at Boston Children’s Hospital doing speech and language evaluations. It was interesting work, but I really wanted to be in a school environment where I could work with students, teachers and other community members.
I am originally from California, and let me tell you, the winters are still hard on me even though I’ve lived in Massachusetts for 14 years now! I still miss the warm weather sometimes, but I love Cambridge and I plan on staying. I first came here in 2001 to go to MIT for a PhD in Linguistics. I learned a lot about child language learning and I conducted research with preschool children. After the program, however, I realized that my future didn't lie in academia but instead in working with children directly. I went to Emerson College to get a Masters in Communication Disorders so I could be a speech therapist. I’ve been doing it and loving it ever since!