Released July 28, 2003

SOUTHERN MISS TO OFFER SIX-DAY
COURSE ON THE ASSOCIATION METHOD

HATTIESBURG - The University of Southern Mississippi will offer a course on the Association Method August 26-28 and September 16-18 at the Dubard School for Language Disorders.

The Association Method is a multisensory teaching strategy for use in kindergarten through second grade for learning disabilities and special-education teachers and for speech-language pathologists.

It has been utilized by the Dubard School for Language Disorders since 1962 and benefits children with severe language disorders or hearing impairments, learning disabilities, dyslexia and other communication disorders.

It is also used with nondisabled children to establish a code-breaking system for the development of reading skills.

Susan Deen, an elementary school principal and former first-grade teacher in Seminary, is a past participant in the Association Method program. "The training I received in the Association Method has proven to be a valuable tool to help me teach and reach every student," she said.

More praise for the course comes from past participant Lisa Campbell, a first-grade teacher from Collins.

"Using the Association Method, I've found a way to help my struggling readers, improve my moderate readers, and enrich my advanced readers," Campbell said. "All of my students benefit when I use the Association Method in my classroom.

"My students have shown an increased reading ability and have demonstrated the ability to decode unfamiliar words. At last, I've discovered a program that benefits everyone."

The June Shelton School in Dallas has been using the Association Method for seven years. Past participant Annette Stanislav, coordinator of speech/language services at the school, said: "It has enabled our school to accept students with underlying oral language deficits combined with written language deficits. These students have shown significant gains on their speech/language testing and on their academic testing (decoding, comprehension and spelling)."

"Without the use of the Association Method at our school, we would not be able to serve these students with the most appropriate program possible," she added.

The six-day Association Method Course at Southern Miss will be taught by Dr. Maureen Martin, director of the Dubard School for Language Disorders. It will encompass the following topics:

" the principles of the Association Method as appropriate for kindergarten through second grace, communicatively-disordered and learning-disabled children

" stages of auditory and visual development

" the Northampton phonetic symbol system for teaching sound-symbol relationships, multiple spellings of sounds, and long and short vowels

" oral and written language development

" the Association Method as part of the school curriculum

The Association Method course is coordinated through Southern Miss' Continuing Education and Distributed Learning (CEDL).

For more information on the Association Method course at Southern Miss, call (601) 266-4186, or make inquiries by mail to Southern Miss CEDL, Box 5136, Hattiesburg, MS 39406.

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