Thriving Through Connections

NOTE: May is Better Hearing and Speech Month

Jaxson and Donia

By Donia Shirley, Vice President of the National Family Association for Deaf-Blind and parent of Jaxson, a child who is deaf-blind.

When a baby is added to a family, invisible bonds often quickly form with others who have children the same age. For families who have children with complex support needs, that community can seem out of reach, especially when they have a child with a low incidence disability such as deaf-blindness.

A few days after our 6-week-old son Jaxson was transferred to our local children’s hospital, we started receiving diagnoses. We learned he was deaf-blind; he was profoundly Deaf and had colobomas (an eye condition that cannot be completely corrected). The medical team eventually informed us that Jaxson had CHARGE Syndrome.

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New Innovative Early Language and Literacy Program in South Carolina

NOTE: May is Better Hearing and Speech Month

Family Connection of South Carolina

By Amy Holbert, chief executive officer of Family Connection of South Carolina


Family Connection of South Carolina is pleased to join the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the American Speech Language and Hearing Association in celebrating Better Hearing and Speech Month.

Family Connection of South Carolina is excited to announce a new communication tool launched earlier this month in the spirit of this year’s theme, “Communication at Work!”

Family Connection of South Carolina—in partnership with the South Carolina Department of Education—launched a family-centered, early language and literacy communication service for parents of preschoolers.

“Text2Read” (T2R) is a free mobile-based program offering practical information about child development and low-cost language and literacy activities for young children. The service is a confidential, easy-to-use resource for parents to help prepare their child for kindergarten and to become ready to read.

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Early Education Inclusion in STEM Can Lay Groundwork for Future

May is Better Hearing and Speech Month


STEMIE logo


When people think about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) they tend to think of subjects that are academic or require adult-directed formal instruction. However, STEM can and should be integrated in intentional ways throughout a young child’s typical routines and daily activities.

At the STEM Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education (STEMIE) Center, we are excited to take part in the discussion on this year’s Better Hearing and Speech Month theme, “Communication Across the Lifespan.”

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Megan Vinh and Chih-Ing Lim
Posted by
STEM Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education (STEMIE) Center

“Voices from the Field” Interview with Theresa Jones, Director of Clinical Instruction and Speech/Language Services at Central Michigan University


May is Better Hearing & Speech Month


Jones Theresa

Theresa Jones, M.S., CCC-SLP is the Director of Clinical Instruction and Speech/Language Services at Central Michigan University (CMU). Theresa has been a speech-language pathologist (SLP) for over 20 years. She received her Master’s degree in speech-language pathology from Howard University where she specialized in infant and toddler service delivery. She received her bachelor degree from Northwestern University in speech-language pathology. Before becoming the Director of the CMU Speech-Language Pathology clinic, Theresa worked as a clinical educator for 13 years and as an SLP with individuals through the lifespan in a variety of settings.


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Theresa Jones thumbnail
Posted by
Director, Clinical Instruction and Speech/Language Services, Central Michigan University

She Will Never…

Note: May is Better Hearing and Speech Month.

Rene Averitt-Sanzone

Rene Averitt-Sanzone
Executive Director
Parents’ Place of Maryland

Those were the words I heard over and over again when my oldest child was born 27 years ago. She will never read past a third grade reading level; she can only hope for a menial or labor-oriented job; this is the best her writing will ever be so maybe you should just accept it, maybe you are in denial. Sound familiar? I am sure that I am not alone as a mom. Many of us have heard these words from well-meaning and well-intended professionals who are only trying to help.

In July of 1990, I gave birth to a very healthy and beautiful baby girl, Laurin. I mean, she was adorable (seriously, picture the Gerber baby. That was Laurin.). She seemed to be doing everything ahead of the developmental milestones: crawling, sitting up, etc. But then, on Christmas when Laurin was five months old, my sister came to me and said, “I just tripped and knocked over some pots and pans behind Laurin and she didn’t startle.”

It is safe to say that this single moment radically changed my world.

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Improving Early Childhood Intervention

Note: May is Better Hearing and Speech Month.

The Early Childhood Personnel Center (ECPC) logo

Infancy and early childhood are important times of life for all children, but more so for those who have delays in development. These delays may be from genetic conditions, disabilities, various risk conditions, or unknown reasons. While families may be the first to recognize a difference in their child’s developmental progress, professionals trained and licensed in early childhood intervention have the skills and knowledge to detect a developmental delay and to then provide intervention to remediate and/or minimize its impact on a child’s development.

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Mary Beth Bruder,
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Mary Beth Bruder, Project Director, ECPC, University of Connecticut

“Voices from the Field” Interview with Will Eiserman, ECHO Initiative

Will Eiserman with a back pack in the woods

Will Eiserman, Director, Early Childhood Hearing Outreach (ECHO) Initiative at Utah State University.

Will Eiserman is the Director of the Early Childhood Hearing Outreach (ECHO) Initiative, at the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management, Utah State University. As Director of the ECHO Initiative, he has led a national effort to assist Early, Migrant, and American Indian/Alaska Native Head Start programs in updating their hearing screening and follow-up practices. Working in close collaboration with a team of pediatric audiologists and other Early Hearing and Detection Initiative (EHDI) experts, Eiserman has been responsible for the design of training systems, mechanisms for tracking and follow-up, and evaluation strategies associated with early and continuous hearing screening activities. His career has focused on a variety of efforts to improve early intervention systems for children with special needs, and on meeting the psycho-social needs of children with craniofacial disfigurements and their families. Eiserman’s perspective is influenced by his extensive international and cross-cultural experiences that include work in Ecuador, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Russia, and Indonesia.

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Will Eiserman
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Director, Early Childhood Hearing Outreach (ECHO) Initiative, National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management, Utah State University

“Voices from the Field” Interview with Deborah Dixon,
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)
Director of School Services

Deborah Dixon, ASHA Director of School Services

Deborah Dixon, ASHA Director of School Services

“True collaboration requires a lot of trust, but once you build that trust you understand that no one person can be responsible for a child’s progress”.


As part of Better Hearing and Speech Month (BHSM) ED interviewed Deborah Dixon, M.A., CCC-SLP, who is American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (ASHA) Director of School Services. Deborah leads ASHA’s schools team to provide resources, technical assistance and contemporary information to school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs). She has presented to many state and national organizations and serves as ex officio to several ASHA committees. Some of her areas of expertise are integrating state standards; workload strategies; the role of the SLP in multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) and response to intervention (RTI); dynamic service delivery for SLPs; eligibility and dismissal criteria for school SLP services; and contemporary issues in school practice.

Note to readers: Given the importance of high quality early learning opportunities for young children with disabilities, OSERS will periodically highlight voices from the broader field of early learning in our blog.


ED: Speech-language pathologists (SLP) are trained to work across the age span, why did you become interested in working specifically in schools?

Deborah: Most of my practice career [as an SLP] was in and around Pittsburgh in various school districts. I was always interested in working in a school setting since the most important things in a child’s life happen in the context of the child’s family and in their schools. In the school setting I enjoyed building relationships with teachers and other colleagues, families, and children. Working with children at an early age allows you to watch them change and grow overtime and to have an impact on many aspects of their development, including social, emotional, language, and literacy. With a preventive mindset, we can catch children early when they are struggling with language or communication, and then work with them and the adults in their lives to improve their outcomes.

ED: What is the SLP’s role in an early learning or school environment?

Deborah: When most people think about a speech-language pathologist, they think about helping children with make correct speech sounds, but an SLP’s role is much broader and includes all aspects of communication. SLPs serve an important role in assisting students to be “reading ready” by helping them hear and process differences in sounds, expand their vocabulary, use and understand grammar, build skills to summarize and sequence information, and problem solve and interpret idiomatic language. They support both oral and written language. SLPs also help students engage socially with one another; helping them learn a wide variety of verbal and nonverbal skills that support more successful interactions with peers and adults.

One of ASHA’s major strategic goals is to promote cross-discipline collaborationencouraging SLPs and their colleagues in schools (teachers, parents, physical therapists, occupational therapists, etc.) to work more collaboratively to address the needs of the whole child. We need to bring the various perspectives from different professions together to conduct child assessments, develop an intervention approach focused on improving outcomes for children holistically, and assess whether what we, the professionals, are doing is working. True collaboration requires a lot of trust, but once you build that trust you understand that no one person can be responsible for a child’s progress. A team made up of the family and professional, each with different expertise, can make all the difference.

ED: What are some of the challenges in this work, and what strategies have you tried to overcome them? 

Deborah: One of the biggest challenges is the school day. For meaningful collaboration, professionals need time to meet regularly. It is a huge struggle to find collaborative planning time because of the way schools are scheduled. One solution to this is getting buy-in from program or school leadership on how teams need to work to ultimately benefit children. Currently there isn’t a great understanding of the different roles and responsibilities of specialists (SLPs, OT, PT) in early learning programs and schools, or how they contribute to improving the developmental and educational outcomes of all children.

One successful strategy for improving collaboration is integrating SLP services into the program or classroom. If an SLP works in the general education classroom, the teacher sees their expertise in action and vice versa. The SLP also witnesses experiences the demands the teacher faces every day. Both professionals gain a new appreciation for roles and expectations, and have an opportunity to work together. Another strategy is to make staff assignments based on workload and not simply on numbers of children.

When there is concern in a school such as literacy rates or behavioral problems, bringing a team together can be really effective. Schools and early learning programs need to create a learning community that engages professionals and families to collaboratively develop solutions for such issues, including using data to inform interventions. If, as members of such a team, we all understand what we each other are trying to achieve, we can work together much more efficiently and effectively.

Families are a key partner in this collaborative work. We are getting better at figuring out how to engage working families. This is important, because most families do want to be involved. We must use technology and innovative solutions to involve families. We often tell families, “you need to work on this,” but we don’t engage with them on the other piece, how you build this into your everyday activities. This type of engagement can go a long way, and provide great support and perspective for the family and professional. For example, how do you use the grocery store to facilitate speech and language development?

ED: May is Better Hearing and Speech Month (BHSM). Why is it important to have a BHSM?

Deborah: BHSM is an annual opportunity to raise awareness about communication disorders, share strategies for building communication skills every day, and promote the important role SLPs and audiologists play in helping to build communication skills.

This year’s BHSM theme is “Communication—the Key to Connection.” This provides an opportunity to underscore that we engage with one another through communication. As adults, we are role models for children in our communication; even in terms of our problem solving, disagreeing, etc. Being very deliberate in terms of modeling positive communication skills is important. Additionally, being aware of and understanding the cultural nuance of communication gives us an opportunity to embrace and celebrate our diversity.


More information on BHSM can be found at: http://www.asha.org/public/


Blog articles provide insights on the activities of schools, programs, grantees, and other education stakeholders to promote continuing discussion of educational innovation and reform. Articles do not endorse any educational product, service, curriculum or pedagogy.


Deborah Dixon, ASHA Director of School Services
Posted by
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (ASHA) Director of School Services

Better Hearing & Speech Month 2015:
Early Intervention Counts

2015 May is Better Hearing & Speech Month: Early Intervention Counts

Each May, The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) highlights Better Hearing & Speech Month (BHSM) to raise awareness about communication disorders. The 2015 theme is “Early Intervention Counts.” The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) supports states in providing early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families (Part C) and special education and related services for preschool children with disabilities (Part B, Section 619). Results of a recent survey of ASHA’s membership revealed that 45% of expert respondents reported a lack of awareness as the number one barrier to early detection of communication disorders. Research has shown that early detection is critical to addressing communication disorders. Delayed intervention can result in delayed development, as well as poor academic or career performance.

The importance of human communication—talking, reading, listening and interacting—is paramount to children’s overall development, including their academic and social success. The importance of human interaction is all the more true in this age of technology, in which “smart” devices occupy an ever-increasing amount of time, attention and prominence in the lives of infants to teens. For more information and resources about early detection of communication disorders, visit ASHA’s Web site (www.asha.org) and its Identify the Signs campaign (identifythesigns.org), which includes some interesting articles below:

Download the 2015 Better Hearing & Speech Month poster:

Download the 2015 Better Hearing & Speech Month poster

 

The ASHA materials contained herein are not an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education and herein do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the United States Department of Education.

OSERS Avatar -- OSERS: Inclusion, Equity and Opportunity
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Dawn Ellis is an Education Program Specialist in the Office of Special Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education.