Established in 1938, the Atlanta Speech School serves children and adults with speech, hearing, language, or learning disabilities through clinical and education programs, in addition to providing professional development for teachers and educators in partner schools and preschools.
The Atlanta Speech School has four school programs (the Katherine Hamm Center, the Wardlaw School, Stepping Stones Preschool, and the Anne & Jim Kenan Preschool), four outpatient clinics (Speech Language Pathology & Audiology Clinic, Occupational Therapy Clinic, Learning Evaluation Clinic, and Learning Lab), and a professional development institute (the Rollins Center for Language & Literacy.)
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
School programs
Katherine Hamm Center
The Katherine Hamm Center is an auditory-verbal education program for children ages birth to 5 who are deaf or hard of hearing. The goal of auditory-verbal programs is to enable students to communicate using listening and oral language rather than sign language. Students enrolled in the Katherine Hamm Center use assisted listening devices such as cochlear implants and hearing aids and are prepared to succeed in a mainstream classroom as quickly as possible. The majority of students leaving the Hamm Center are mainstreamed into regular public and independent schools. Accreditations: Bright from the Start, OPTION schools, Georgia Accrediting Commission (GAC).
Wardlaw School
The Wardlaw School serves elementary-age students with average to superior intelligence and mild to moderate language-based learning disabilities such dyslexia. Instructors use a collaborative teaching model to provide specialized instruction that is tailored to the individual learning profile of each student. This individualization enables students to develop effective learning strategies that will help them succeed in a mainstream classroom. The Wardlaw School is designed to be short term and aims to return children to a mainstream educational setting as quickly as possible. Accreditations: Georgia Accrediting Commission (GAC).
Stepping Stones
Stepping Stones provides therapeutic education for children ages three and four with speech/language delays and/or disabilities. The program incorporates a unique collaborative approach, integrating therapy and education to address the specific developmental needs of each child. Its curriculum addresses each child's speech and language, pre-academic and multisensory integration needs. With an instructional team consisting of a speech-language pathologist, learning disability specialist, occupational therapist, and teacher assistant, Stepping Stones is the only preschool program of its kind in Georgia. Accreditations: Bright from the Start, Georgia Accrediting Commission (GAC)
Anne & Jim Kenan Preschool
The Anne & Jim Kenan Preschool is a mainstream preschool program that serves children two to five years of age. It was established as a mainstreaming site for children in the Atlanta Speech School's Katherine Hamm Center who are deaf or hard of hearing. Teachers use individualized instructional methods to address the different learning styles represented in each classroom, allowing children to progress at their own rates. Based on the latest research demonstrating the significant learning potential of children during their formative years, the curriculum addresses the key areas that research indicates must be fostered to develop early literacy skills in young children. A strong emphasis on oral language and pre-literacy concepts is integrated throughout curriculum, which was developed by Speech School staff.
Clinical and community programs
Collectively, the Atlanta Speech School Clinics are devoted to assisting clients develop and utilize communication and literacy skills to the maximum extent possible. This is achieved by offering various comprehensive evaluations, using researched-based intervention techniques, utilizing state-of-the-art technology and resources, and by sharing resources across clinics and disciplines. Atlanta Speech School Clinic clients range in age from infancy to late adulthood, and include members of the metro Atlanta and the state of Georgia community, as well as Atlanta Speech School students.
Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology Clinic
The Atlanta Speech School's Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology Clinic provides evaluation and therapy for children and adults with speech, language and hearing difficulties. The Clinic serves as a referral source for Georgia's Universal Newborn Hearing Screening program and dispenses hearing aids for infants. The Hanen Program for parents of children with language delays is offered through the clinic. Therapists in the clinic also perform speech and hearing screenings for independent schools in the metro Atlanta area.
Therapy is available to treat persons with speech or language difficulties related to the following:
- Accent
- Aphasia
- Apraxia of Speech
- Articulation Disorders
- Auditory Processing Disorders
- Aural Habilitation/Auditory Training
- Cleft Palate
- Hearing Loss
- Phonological Disorders
- Phonological Processing Skills
- Spoken and Written Language Delays
- Stuttering
- Voice Disorders
- Word Retrieval/ Word Finding Difficulties
Services Provided:
- Diagnostic testing, evaluation and remediation
- Hearing evaluations, aural rehabilitation guidance
- Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) testing
- Hearing aid dispensing, programming and service
- Non-medical support prior to and following cochlear implantation
Learning Evaluation Clinic
The Atlanta Speech School's Learning Evaluation Clinic provides psycho-educational evaluations serving students from the age of four throughout college. The evaluation team consists of experienced diagnosticians with backgrounds in learning disabilities, reading, psychology, and speech-language pathology. The evaluations respond to a variety of referral concerns regarding a student's learning abilities including intelligence, learning processing skills, academic achievement, and social-emotional development. Due to the strong relationship between language skills and learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, psycho-educational evaluations at the Atlanta Speech School also include a detailed assessment of a student's speech and language abilities. Following the evaluation, the psychologists provide a detailed report of the testing, provide recommendations to address identified needs, and, when necessary, assist in educational planning by making referrals for appropriate school and support services. Due to the somewhat unusual in-depth speech and language assessment portion of the School's psycho-educational evaluation, students for which speech or language therapy seems appropriate are immediately able to begin obtaining these intervention services,as opposed to being referred for a separate speech and language evaluation.
Occupational Therapy Clinic
The Atlanta Speech School's Occupational Therapy Clinic serves children who experience difficulties in sensory integration, gross and fine motor coordination, visual-motor and handwriting skills, visual perception, independent self care, and feeding skills.
Services Provided:
- Diagnostic evaluations
- Intervention services
- Parent/teacher consultation
Learning Lab
The Atlanta Speech School's Learning Lab is an individual or small group intervention program that serves individuals age four through college-age needing assistance to achieve academic success. The Lab offers a wide range of research-based instructional methods, administered by highly trained, experienced teachers who specialize in many educational methods and curricula. Lab instructors use formal (standardized achievement) and non-formal (teacher-developed) assessment data to monitor progress. Upon request, instructors may consult with the student's teacher(s) or other professionals to integrate training and maximize progress.
Academic Areas Served:
- Reading (decoding, comprehension, fluency)
- Written expression
- Language abilities
- Mathematics
- Organizational/Study skills
Rollins Center for Language & Literacy
The mission of the Rollins Center for Language & Learning is to serve as a resource for education professionals by sharing research-based language and reading approaches for the benefit of children and their families, schools, and communities. The Rollins Center faculty work as partners with teachers, parents, individual schools, and school systems to provide high quality professional development experiences. The Atlanta Speech School's professional development program is funded in part by the generosity of the O. Wayne Rollins Foundation.
Financial Assistance
One of the guiding principles the Atlanta Speech School is to provide instruction all persons who would be well served by the School's specialized services without regard to their financial limitations. The School's Board of Directors and staff leadership firmly believe that it is an important part of the Atlanta Speech School's mission.
Employment Opportunities
The Atlanta Speech School regularly seeks to employ exceptional professionals. Employment opportunities for strong professionals in the fields of audiology, speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, special education, early childhood development, deaf education, and psychology are posted on the School's website as positions become available.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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