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Communication is key
[ Susan Marquez, Pointe Innovation Magazine;
photos provided by The Children's Center ]
September 29, 2009- At The University of Southern Mississippi’s Children’s Center for Communication and Development, success is defined by each individual child. Margaret Buttross Brinegar, director of the center, is seeing the fruits of their labor as more of their students are coming of age. “Right now we have two Southern Miss students who were in our program as children.” And just recently, a student who earned her Master’s degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences at Southern Miss returned to the place she started at age two. “She couldn’t speak at all when she came to us,” Brinegar said. “She majored in Speech-Language Pathology as a way to give back.”
The playground is covered with special heat-deflecting canopies so the playground can be used even in the hottest weather. The flooring is made of a material that provides a safe environment for mobility therapy. "Our goal is to have every child fully engaged in play," said Judy Prehn, pediatric physical therapist with the Children's Center. "Through play, the children learn social, language, motor and life skills, learn independence and gain a sense of competence. Our playground is a work in progress, and it will continue to adapt and change to meet the needs of the wonderful children we serve."
Mercedes Breland uses one of the playground speech boxes.
High tech solutions aren’t always necessary; as a matter of fact, some “low-tech” approaches are getting big results at the center. Therapists utilize a simple speech recording device to help children communicate. “They learn to push the button that corresponds with what they want or need,” said Brinegar. “So a child who wants to go down the slide pushes the button and the device verbally communicates for the child. For instance, ‘I want to go down the slide.’” “Then at the top of the slide, the child can push a button that says ‘Wheeee!’ These are expressions a child would communicate on a playground.” Children can also use the boxes to invite others to play with them or tell each other where they are going next. "The devices convey verbal communication," said Brinegar. "The boxes empower the children to communicate along with an activity."
The Children’s Center for Communication and Development, a United Way agency, is an early intervention program serving infants, toddlers and preschoolers with disabilities. The center is a clinical division of the Southern Miss Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, in the College of Health, and serves families and children while providing clinical training for university students.
The Children’s Center serves between 70 and 80 children, from birth to age five. The children come from 15 to 20 South Mississippi counties. “The center sees children with a broad spectrum of disabilities,” said Brinegar. The center provides a transdisciplinary team approach to the assessment and treatment of communicatively and developmentally disabled children. Services are either home-based or center-based, depending on a child's needs.
A specialized chair helps Brinkley Allen with mobility and communication.
“Our methodology is determined by the individual child’s needs,” explained Brinegar. “In addition to speech-language pathologists, we have a special educator, behavioral specialist, occupational therapist, physical therapist and an audiologist. Technology plays a big role in the Center’s program. What looks like an outdoor playground is actually an $85,000 technologically-advanced classroom that happens to be outdoors. Designed by the center’s physical therapist, within Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines, everything on the playground has a specific purpose. “Play is what children do. So we have to design their play to have therapeutic and social and educational benefits. We utilize play to teach. It’s one of our tools,” said Brinegar.
Therapists at the center consider all aspects of a child’s communication skills, even eye-gaze. “It’s typically one of the initial forms of communication in infants,” Brinegar said. “Our job is to assess each child’s communication skills and then teach our children how to communicate.” Therapists often incorporate switch-activated therapy toys to motivate children to engage and communicate. As children progress, other communication devices help them make choices or requests. “For example, they can communicate which food they want to eat, who they want to hold them or any other number of things. They are very low-tech devices, yet quite effective.” The Children’s Center was started 35 years ago, before the State of Mississippi had mandatory kindergarten. “When we began, we were seeing four, five and six-year-olds,” said Brinegar. “Younger children were missing out on developmental interventions. When kindergartens became mandatory, it created an opportunity for the center to start seeing children from birth to age three.”
Recognizing the urgent need, the Children’s Center was a pioneer for early intervention services for children with disabilities in Mississippi. “Research has confirmed that working with infants and toddlers is critical,” explained Brinegar. “Neurological technology backs that up. Some children are born with a medically diagnosed disability, such as cleft palate, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and spinal bifida, so we know they’ll need intervention. But it’s not unusual for a parent to bring a child to us between the ages of 18 months and two years, when developmental milestones, particularly communication, are lagging.”
Jimmy Dunkle learns while exploring the Children’s Center playground.
Brinegar said one of the center’s responsibilities is to keep the community engaged and informed about the importance of early intervention for children with disabilities. What they do goes beyond serving the needs of children and their families. In addition to providing direct services, the center’s certified staff supervises undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of disciplines within the university, and they also provide professional training throughout the state. “We are focused on serving children and families and on building capacity for more and better services in Mississippi,” Brinegar said. The center trains students from disciplines such as speech-language pathology, audiology and behavioral therapy. “We treat the whole child with all disciplines working together.” For more information on the USM Children’s Center for Communication and Development, visit their website at www.usm.edu/childrenscenter.
You may contact Susan at larssue@aol.com.