Our legacy compels us to ensure every child has a voice.

The School was started in 1938 by Katherine Hamm, whose son Benjamin had hearing loss.  Mrs. Hamm was driven to help other children who were deaf or hard of hearing or experiencing speech disorders learn to speak. Mrs. Hamm had relocated from Birmingham, Alabama to St. Louis, Missouri to enroll Ben in the Central Institute for the Deaf (CID) to acquire speech as no such services were available in the Southeast. Believing it would enable her to provide the best support for her son, Mrs. Hamm completed the teacher training program at CID herself.

When the Hamms moved to Atlanta, Mrs. Hamm discovered that many children faced the same challenge of hearing loss as her son, but did not have the financial means to seek services elsewhere. Learning this, she was compelled to ensure every child had the same access to learning as Ben. Accordingly, Mrs. Hamm joined with the Junior League of Atlanta to open the School in June 1938, providing services to children who needed them at no charge. 

Over the next several decades, the School functioned as the speech and language department of virtually every school system in metropolitan Atlanta, with students traveling long distances to attend the School or receiving services from the School’s itinerant teachers in their home schools.

This model for service delivery, accompanied with significant public funding, remained in place until Federal Law 94-142 was passed in 1975 (the predecessor of Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA)), mandating school systems provide their own such programs. This change in law required the School to modify its services directed toward children with language-based learning disabilities. The School anticipated that its focus should be redirected to children with mild to moderate disabilities who would be less likely to have services provided for them in the public schools. This change also demanded that the School adapt its funding to rely almost exclusively on private sources for its operations. It is also noted that the School’s governance and financial structure had previously changed in 1960 when Junior League policies caused the Junior League of Atlanta to separate itself from its ownership position of the School. As a result, the Junior League School of Speech Correction became independently incorporated as the Atlanta Speech School, Inc.

The School’s history includes numerous significant innovations and great programmatic growth. These advances in the School’s work have been made possible by a strong partnership between the School’s Board of Directors and staff, a working relationship with the nationally renowned members of the School's Scientific Advisory Council, ties to key local, state and national organizations, and individuals aligned with the School’s work.

1938 Founded by Katherine Hamm and the Junior League of Atlanta, the Junior League School for Speech Correction opened as a free school, focused on teaching children to speak who were deaf, hard of hearing, or had speech disorders 

1947 The School began the first speech therapy program for Atlanta Public Schools and assisted Fulton County Schools 

1948 Initiated Master’s-level teacher-training program with Emory University 

1950 Funded the Language and Learning Disabilities Department, to eventually become the Wardlaw School 

1952 Added the first audiology clinic south of Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University 

1960 Changed name from the Junior League School for Speech Correction to the Atlanta Speech School 

1963 Initiated the first home training program for infants who are deaf or hard of hearing in the United States, funded as a demonstration project by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare 

1971 Founded the Learning Lab 

1973 Opened the Nursery Kindergarten as an inclusion program for children who are deaf or hard of hearing 

1975 Federal Law 94-142, the predecessor of Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, mandated school systems provide their own SLP programs

1990 Became the first educational center in the Southeast to offer a children’s Cochlear Implant Program 

2002 Nursery/Kindergarten renamed Anne & Jim Kenan Preschool; 
Established Stepping Stones Preschool to serve children with speech and language delays 

2003 Established The 1938 Planning Giving Society 

2004 Opened Rollins Center for Language & Literacy, expanding the experience of each child at the School with a goal of providing every child access to reading;  
Established Atlanta Speech School Board of Advisors; 
Renamed The Oral School, which became the Katherine Hamm Center, in honor of our founder 

2005 Raised $18 million for Building On A Legacy, capital campaign for building renovations and addition 

2013 Celebrated 75th Anniversary with gift to City of Atlanta, the book Amari’s Adventure 

2014 Changed Katherine Hamm Center to a clinical model to serve children birth-4; 
Created the Cox Campus with gift from the James M. Cox Foundation 

2015 Launched Telepractice, allowing clinicians to virtually deliver services; 
Hired curriculum specialists for our four academic programs (Hamm, Kenan, Stepping Stones, Wardlaw) 

2016 Jack’s Law: the Atlanta Speech School secured the passage of state’s legislation named in honor of Jack McConnell, former Katherine Hamm Center student, which mandates insurance coverage of hearing aids and assistive devices in Georgia 

2017 Launched Talk With Me Baby at Grady Hospital to deliver language nutrition to all families 

2019 Hosted year-long book study (staff and community), culminating in the first virtual Montag Lecture Series featuring author Dr. Maryanne Wolf 

2020 Recognized by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative as an Exemplar School; 
Extended Cox Campus to families with Pop-Up Early Learning, free online preschool, in response to needs identified by COVID-19 

2021 Established the National Scientific Advisory Council; 
Raised $30 million for Keeping the Promise Campaign for endowment and capital improvements; 
Crossed 100,000 member threshold for Cox Campus

2022 Celebrated the Anne & Jim Kenan Preschool (formerly known as the Nursery Kindergarten) 50th Anniversary;
Crossed 200,000 member threshold for Cox Campus 

2023 Celebrated the School's 85th anniversary