Did You Know This is Better Hearing and Speech Month?

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Understanding the world around you and being ‘heard’ can be life-altering to a child and enhance their school experience.

Each May, Better Hearing and Speech Month (BHSM) provides an opportunity to raise awareness about communication disorders. For many children affected by these disorders, speech-language-hearing pathologists and audiologists provide life-changing treatment and services.

Imagine the child who can’t hear or hear clearly to understand what they are hearing or being taught in the classroom. Or the child with a speech disorder or impediment, making it difficult for them to express or communicate with others.

Signs of a speech or language disorder in a young child (age 3 and under)

• Does not smile or interact with others (birth and older)
• Does not babble (4–7 months)
• Makes only a few sounds or gestures, like pointing (7–12 months)
• Does not understand what others say (7 months – 2 years)
• Says only a few words (12–18 months)
• Says words that are not easily understood by others (18 months – 2 years)
• Does not put words together to make sentences (1.5–3 years)
• Produces unclear speech, even to familiar people (2–3 years)

For children to succeed in school, they need language, literacy, and social skills appropriate for their age level. For children to have those skills at age level, they need to have been identified early and provided with resources, interventions, and support to develop their brain with information and knowledge.

Speech-language-hearing pathologists and audiologists promote students’ academic and social well-being in their different learning environments.

Good access to classroom information and modifications are essential for students with hearing loss or speech impediments to succeed in school. These educational specialists determine if the child needs technology and therapy. They determine if instruction or the classroom needs to be modified and work with families to support their child at home. Pathologists and audiologists may work with kids one-on-one or in small groups, or they may co-teach lessons with the classroom teacher.

Bottom line, educational speech-language-hearing pathologists and audiologists advocate for each student under their care to ensure they have what they need to be successful.

According to Tracy Bailey, executive director of special education, early intervention is essential. While treatment at any age is worthwhile, the earlier the child receives it is usually most effective. 

Key Benefits of Early Treatment

• Maximizes a child’s success. Early treatment can reduce the need for school-based services later.
• Saves time and money. It can take less time and fewer out-of-pocket expenses to treat a communication delay or disorder when families act on the early warning signs. Many early intervention programs offer free or low-cost services to children ages birth to 3 years and their families. They also can link families to other community supports.
• Prepares a child for kindergarten. What happens between birth and age 3 lays the foundation for kindergarten readiness. Strong speech, language, cognitive, and social skills are necessary for reading, writing, and academic success, and all the other demands of school.
• Sets a child on a course to school, social, and life success. All families want what’s best for their children. Acting early can have positive, long-lasting effects on your child’s communication, social relationships, learning, and daily life activities well into adulthood.

Learn more about the benefits of early identification and treatment at www.IdentifytheSigns.org. If you are concerned that your child has a speech impairment, please reach out to your child’s primary school (EC/PreK/K) for more information.

To learn more about the services and resources Aldine ISD provides students, visit our Let’s Talk, the district’s two-way communication platform. Submit any questions to the Special Education Department.