Alanna Sullivan

Alanna Sullivan is a second-year graduate student studying Speech Language Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh. In 2019, Alanna completed her bachelor’s degrees in Communication Sciences and Disorders and Spanish at the University of Pittsburgh. Since she was in second grade, Alanna has had the opportunity to participate in activities with people with disabilities such as Special Olympics, Indoor Playground (a winter weekend program), and Camp Sunrise (a summer day camp). She knew she was especially interested in pursuing a career involving people with disabilities when she began babysitting a boy with autism in high school.

More recently, Alanna has been working at the Friendship Circle in Pittsburgh (an organization with a focus on inclusion that organizes events for people with disabilities and the community) as a Program Staff and spent the summer prior to this one working at a summer camp for adults with disabilities. Thus far in her Speech Language Pathology program, Alanna has had clinical education placements at UPMC Children’s Hospital East, Allegheny Intermediate Unit-DART Early Intervention and UPMC Mercy in the Traumatic Brain Injury Unit. Through each of these experiences, Alanna has had the opportunity to work with children and adults with various disabilities. She is excited to learn more about how service providers work together to ensure the highest quality of care for people with disabilities and how to best advocate for people with disabilities through the LEND program.