A range of services is offered to families with early inclusion into their neighborhood school as the primary goal for all children. Read through our Newsletter , published Fall 1999. Maura A. Berndsen, M.A., Cert. The mission of Listen and Talk is to provide services to families who want their children with hearing loss to listen and speak.
Parents serve as a child's primary teachers.
Program goals focus on the development of listening, thinking and conversational skills while preparing children for early inclusion into their neighborhood school. A cognitive-based curriculum is utilized with monthly thematic units incorporated into therapy sessions and the preschool program. Services included auditory-verbal therapy and mainstream consultation. In September 1997, two preschool classrooms opened, enrolling hearing children with a small number of hearing-impaired children. In September 1999, a research study at the University of Washington was begun to compare the speech development of young children with hearing aids and cochlear implants at Listen and Talk.