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 through literacy. The School applies research-based practices and innovation focusing on brain science and social science through its three preschools; the Wardlaw School for elementary-aged children with dyslexia; The Clinic, which offers therapeutic and academic support across four disciplines; and the Rollins Center for Language & Literacy with its Cox Campus online professional learning platform and community of practice.

The School engages in advocacy work and holds long-standing partnerships with researchers and organizations in pursuit of literacy - and the choice-filled life it allows - so that each child at the School and every child outside its walls can experience 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 who are experiencing speech and/or language delays.
  • The Wardlaw School is an elementary school that serves children with dyslexia and associated language weaknesses.

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, healthcare professionals and other adults locally, regionally and globally. Its Cox Campus is the only resource of its kind – providing free courses and resources to adults who work with children across the entire early literacy continuum, prenatal through third grade.

With a singular focus on those children who have been denied access to educational opportunity, the Rollins Center’s Cox Campus makes Rollins’ research-based training available to any adult, anywhere at no charge, thanks to generous funding from the James M. Cox Foundation.

The Clinic

  • Audiology services include 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.
  • Our Speech Language Pathologists provide comprehensive evaluations and therapy for children and adults with communication difficulties.
  • Pediatric Occupational Therapy services support 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.
  • And, through the Learning Lab, specifically-trained educators provide intervention and support services in the areas of reading, written language, mathematics, spoken language, and study skills for 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 deep reading brain – through which we develop the life skills to navigate the world and learn from experiences long after school is complete. 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 each person who enters 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 – so they can grow to make the most difference in the lives of others.

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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