“Language is the Most Powerful Tool You Have”

Nora Carlson knew from early on that she wanted to study communication. While working with her family and their lawn care business, she came to realize the importance of effective communication in the personal and professional worlds. With that understanding and the desire to enter a health-related field, she started studying linguistics at Iowa State.

Initially, Carlson was focused on Speech-Language Pathology (SLP), the study and practice of how communication, articulation, and language work of a technical level. “I’m learning about why people use language and how people use language, and SLP is essentially teaching people to use language,” she said when asked about her field of study. Speech-language pathologists most commonly work with patients with speech impairments or disabilities, including people who have suffered strokes, the population that Carlson originally wanted to work with.

But Carlson’s experiences at Iowa State have expanded her knowledge of the opportunities. She is now considering a wider range of possibilities for post-graduation work. Throughout her courses and research studies with the university, she’s developed a greater appreciation for communication. According to Carlson, a research study with ISU’s Dr. Carrie Richie documenting children with learning impairments opened an interest in how people learn speech. That, along with classes like Language and Reading Development in Children (LING 4710) and Introduction to Linguistics (LING 2190), respectively, gave Carlson an enthusiasm for possibly working with kids in the future. Describing what intrigued her about these classes, she recalled, “It was just talking about… the way that children develop, children’s reading develops and… the way that our brains understand language was really helpful.”

Now, as Carlson looks towards the clinical field for a chance to employ her learning of linguistics, she encourages others with a passion for communication to consider the field, claiming that “it’s just really fascinating to me to see all the opportunities in a major that I didn’t even know existed before I came on campus.” She also emphasizes the impact of words in social and professional settings, stating that “being… proud of the way you speak and who you are, and essentially articulating that through the… interactions you have, I think is very important.” To Nora Carlson, “language is the most powerful tool you have” and an invaluable skill to develop.