“We need to see the child as a person, not as a set of challenges,” says UP’s Prof Alecia Samuels, whose work in early childhood intervention is strengthening the way in which vulnerable communities are supported.

Alecia Samuels, an associate professor at the University of Pretoria’s (UP) Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, has spent nearly two decades rethinking how early childhood intervention is understood and delivered.*

Her areas of research and teaching straddle early childhood intervention (ECI) and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), and at the core, is committed to improving the lives of children with disabilities and providing holistic care and interventions to both the children and their families. Prof Samuels’s career is a blend of clinical expertise, research excellence and a passion for transformative education.

Her professional journey began in clinical practice, having graduated in 1995 with a degree in Speech Therapy and Audiology from the University of Cape Town. Her early career took her to public health in the Eastern Cape, where for two years she was the sole speech therapist serving the region’s vast and underserved population.

Prof Samuels says the challenges she faced there highlighted systemic gaps in healthcare and motivated her to find more effective ways to serve vulnerable communities.

“I was the only speech therapist in the whole of the Eastern Cape working in public hospitals,” she says. “Being responsible for the whole province was overwhelming; I was overworked. So when a job became available in the South African Military Health Service, I took it up.”

From 1997 to 2005, Prof Samuels worked in the Military Health Service as a speech therapist and audiologist.

“The military is very hierarchal,” she recalls. “It’s a top-down approach. You’re told you’re a soldier before you are a clinician.”

Her keen interest in research and a desire to be in a more flexible environment nudged her towards academia. Prof Samuels’s academic journey began when she joined UP, initially on a contract basis, where she eventually transitioned to a permanent position.

Throughout her career, Prof Samuels has sought to dismantle traditional silos in therapeutic practice and care. Her focus is in early childhood intervention, a field that integrates multiple disciplines to address the developmental needs of children holistically. Her master’s degree in Early Childhood Intervention, one of UP’s pioneering blended learning programmes, introduced her to the transformative potential of transdisciplinary collaboration.

“We were taught to see the child not just as a sum of isolated challenges but as a whole person whose needs are interconnected,” Prof Samuels recalls.

This approach influenced her doctoral research and subsequent teaching, where she’s advocated for models that prioritise collaboration among therapists, families and educators. By centring the caregiver as the primary agent of change, Prof Samuels ensures that the intervention is both practical and impactful.

“A parent is the key resource in a child’s development,” she said. “Therapists must coach parents to carry out interventions in everyday activities, rather than focusing on isolated sessions.”

Her efforts have earned her a National Research Foundation (NRF) rating, which recognises her as an established scientist whose research is helping to advance science in South Africa and beyond. While she admits that the NRF rating was not a personal ambition, she acknowledges the importance of such recognition for women of colour in academia.

“It’s not just about individual achievement; it’s about transformation and representation,” she says.

As a member of UP’s Faculty Transformation Committee, Prof Samuels is committed to diversifying academic spaces and mentoring the next generation of researchers.

Through her work as a course coordinator for UP’s Master’s in Early Childhood Intervention programme, Prof Samuels continues to innovate, creating transdisciplinary intervention models that maximise the effectiveness of limited resources. She integrates diverse professional perspectives into the curriculum, ensuring students are equipped to practise and lead in various contexts.

The vision, she says, is to create a society where children with disabilities are not only included but empowered.

“Our goal is to help children participate meaningfully in their communities, schools and families.”