A National Leader in Language and Literacy

 

Established in 1938, the Atlanta Speech School is the nation's most comprehensive center for language and literacy.

The Speech School effects transformative change in the lives of children and adults through literacy. The School applies research-based practices and innovation focusing on brain science and social science through three preschools, the Wardlaw School for elementary-aged children with dyslexia and a clinic offering therapeutic and academic resources across four disciplines, the Rollins Center for Language and Literacy and its Cox Campus online professional learning platform and community of practice. Our schools focus on the whole child, with an overarching commitment to ensure every child has and uses their voice.

The School engages in advocacy work and holds long-standing partnerships with researchers and  organizations so that each child at the School and every other child can acquire the deep reading brain essential for deciding his or her own future.

The divisions all share a common mission to help each person develop their full potential through language and literacy. At Speech, extraordinarily dedicated and talented individuals make profound differences in the lives of the children and adults they serve, helping them discover their voice, and the power of that voice, for a lifetime. As a core part of its mission, in its over 80-year history, the School has never denied access to a child in need of its specialized services as a result of a family’s socioeconomic circumstances.

SCHOOL PROGRAMS

  • The Anne and Jim Kenan Preschool is an early education program that develops engaged learners who are exceptionally prepared for school.
  • The Katherine Hamm Center is a listening, spoken language and literacy program for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (ages birth to 6) and their families.
  • Stepping Stones is the only preschool program of its kind in Georgia, providing therapeutic education for young children with speech and/or language delays.
  • The Wardlaw School is an elementary school that serves children with dyslexia and other language-based learning disabilities.

Rollins Center for Language and Literacy

The Rollins Center for Language & Literacy is a professional development program that partners with over 100 public and private organizations to bring the Atlanta Speech School’s expertise in language and literacy to teachers across our city, state and nation. The Rollins Center’s Cox Campus makes their research-based training available to all teachers at no charge, thanks to generous funding from the James M. Cox Foundation.

OUR Clinic

  • The Audiology Clinic provides diagnostic testing, evaluation and remediation of hearing loss for adults, children, and infants. This includes hearing aid dispensing, programming, and maintenance. This clinic also serves as a referral source for Georgia’s Universal Newborn Hearing Screening program and provides non-medical cochlear implant services.
  • The Speech-Language Pathology Clinic provides comprehensive evaluations and therapy for children and adults with communication difficulties.
  • Occupational Therapy services are available for children from infancy to adolescence who experience difficulties in sensory integration, gross and fine motor coordination, visual perception, handwriting skills, independent self-care, and feeding skills.
  • The Learning Lab offers intervention services in the areas of reading, written language, mathematics, spoken language, and study skills to students ages 4 to 18 experiencing language-based academic difficulties or learning disabilities such as dyslexia.

SUMMER PROGRAMS

Our Summer Programs offer enrichment and remediation camps for a variety of ages, grades and ability levels, all in a language-rich environment.

Driven by Research

The Atlanta Speech School delivers a unique approach to language education, focused on the development of the reading brain. Backed by the latest neurobiological research, we customize teaching strategies specific to each child’s needs. This focus puts students and educators on a path to lifelong learning and achievement.`

We SEEK CONNECTIONS

Literacy depends upon acquiring language, developing critical thinking, expanding executive functions and exercising empathy- and we provide the experiences that make that growth possible.

Through serve-and-return conversations with students, we create conversational partnerships within an ecosystem defined by the relationships we build within our Speech School family. Where some schools might demand compliance, we strive to connect with those who enter our doors. At the Atlanta Speech School, children are not silenced but rather are taught to find their voices, develop mutual respect, and learn the value of positive choices.

Support the Speech School

The Atlanta Speech School relies on the generosity and collaboration of our neighbors, parents, partners and community leaders to transform the lives of our students. Every day, we work to positively change the lives of every child through language, and we need your help. Join us in our mission and get involved with the Atlanta Speech School today.
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