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Speech and language skills are vital for social and academic competence. Early detection and intervention are key to ensuring children receive the help they need to achieve academic success and maintain successful relationships.

That’s why the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Speech-Language-Hearing (SLH) Center, housed in the School of Education, Health and Human Behavior, is bringing its screening resources into the community to benefit preschool and school-age children.

The SLH Center’s latest community partnership brought speech-language pathology graduate student clinicians to Metro East Montessori School (MEMS) in Granite City for a five-day screening event that included primary and elementary students.

“We were fortunate to receive a $2,475 grant from the SIUE Meridian Society that allowed us to purchase the necessary resources for this screening opportunity with the Metro East Montessori School,” said SIUE SLH Center Coordinator Jaime Henderson, MS, CCC-SLP. “MEMS is a private school that does not have a speech-language pathologist on staff. That’s why this is such an impactful service. We provide screenings, which are a quick look and listen at a child’s speech and language. Our results can lead to productive conversations about next steps for parents and classroom guides.”

Henderson notes that screenings do not diagnose a disorder. Rather they help identify children who may need further assessment. Early detection and intervention, through screenings, promote treatment when needed to improve quality of life and allow students to enjoy all the benefits of their educational experience.

“We often get questions from parents about the normal course of development with certain sounds,” said MEMS Head of School Kyra Lakin. “We educate children from age two through sixth grade. It’s been wonderful to have the Speech-Language-Hearing Center as a resource that can provide annual screenings to follow how students are progressing and provide parents with valuable follow up information.”

Not only do the SLH Center’s screening events benefit community members, but also SIUE speech-language pathology graduate students are gaining real-world clinical experience.

“This partnership with the MEMS offers our graduate students the opportunity to engage with children and have conversations with classroom guides and parents,” Henderson explained. “It’s a valuable way for them to practice what they learn in the classroom and further enhances the training they receive at our on-campus clinic, by bringing them into schools and other public environments.”

“Getting to work at the on-campus clinic and at community events, such as Metro East Montessori School, offer us a richer, hands-on type of learning,” said Maren Valyo, a speech-language pathology graduate student from Alton.

“The impact we can have on an individual’s life is huge,” added Hannah Greeling, a speech-language pathology graduate student from Brighton. “Speech sound errors can affect how well a thought can be conveyed. That can be something as simple as a want or need to something more emotionally complex. Being able to have even the smallest effect on improving that is incredibly rewarding. I’m extremely passionate about this work.”

SIUE’s speech-language pathology graduate students complete three externships during their studies, including a medical placement, a school placement and a third placement in a setting of their choice.

“Those experiences will help me decide which professional setting I will pursue,” Valyo noted. “SIUE’s program does a great job allowing students to have a variety of experiences that help us decide where we each fit best.”

The SIUE graduate program in speech-language pathology is accredited by the Council of Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

For more information on program, and specifically the SIUE SLH Center, visit siue.edu/slh-center/index.

Photo: SIUE speech-language pathology graduate students Maren Valyo (left) and Hannah Greeling (right) lead a speech and language screening with a child at the Metro East Montessori School.