Date: Apr 29, 2011

Professors Kathleen Scott and Jenny Roberts Use Research Grant from the Edith Glick Shoolman Children’s Foundation To Provide Teaching Materials and Educational Toys for Children Participating in a "Language and Literacy Project"

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY … On April 28, 2011, Assistant Professor Kathleen Scott and Associate Professor Jenny Roberts of the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences made a special visit to the California Avenue Elementary School in Uniondale bearing boxfuls of teaching materials and educational toys for a class of  kindergarten children identified as needing interventions to promote their language and literacy skills.

The purchase of toys, books, games, a new computer and specialized literacy software was made possible by a grant Drs. Scott and Roberts received in late 2010 from the Edith Glick Shoolman Children’s Foundation. The professors and Clinical Supervisor Melissa Fitzgerald have been running this “Language and Literacy Project” for at-risk kindgarteners at the California Avenue School since 2006.

The “Language and Literacy Project” has joined the resources of the school with Hofstra’s Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences Department and the Joan and Arnold Saltzman Community Services Center. Services are provided by students in Hofstra’s graduate program in  speech-language pathology, who are supervised by clinical staff, faculty in the department, and a classroom teacher.

To date the program has provided service to roughly 70 children on an ongoing weekly basis throughout the full school year. It has provided in-service training for kindergarten teachers in the school, ongoing assessment data for the district, and direct services to children in the kindergarten program. It has also provided intensive clinical training for 14 Hofstra graduate student interns in the department.

***
Hofstra University’s Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences in Hofstra University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers comprehensive programs of study for those who are interested in human communication and communication disorders. In addition to a faculty made up of experts in the field, the department has numerous research laboratories and an on-campus clinic which serve to enhance opportunities for student learning. For more information on the faculty and the department visit www.hofstra.edu/slhs .

Related Link: More About Hofstra’s Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences