Two generous donations from the West Virginia Scottish Rite will aid the West Virginia University School of Medicine Communication Sciences and Disorders program in providing speech pathology and audiology care to children in the state.
The donations – totaling $35,000 for calendar years 2022 and 2023 – benefit the WVU Speech, Language, and Hearing Clinic by providing funds to support speech, language and literacy camps for children and purchase equipment to support the clinic’s cleft palate patient population.
“Preliminary research findings indicate that the prevalence of Developmental Language Disorders (DLD) is more than three times higher than the typical school-age population,” said Jayne Brandel, Ph.D., CC-SLP., Communications Sciences and Disorders chair. “This means that our children are more likely to have reading and writing disorders and partially explains why more than 40% of students in West Virginia do not have reading and writing skills at their grade level.”
So far, 65 children have benefitted from attending the camps. With the funds, Brandel hopes to grow the program. She explains that the intention of the program is to evaluate children and provide oral narrative language treatment over multiple camp sessions so they and their families see the benefit of an intensive and focused treatment for DLD. Then, if the children need more intervention, they can choose to continue services at the clinic with a focus on oral language, reading and/or writing skills.
“Our goal is to help children become successful adults by receiving the support they need early in life to help prepare them for school, the workforce or beyond,” Brandel said.
The donation was made through the Scottish Rite RiteCare Childhood Language Program, a nationwide network of centers and clinics dedicated to providing early intervention and treatment services to children with communication disorders.
The national program officially began in the late 1950s and early 1960s as Scottish Rite Masons partnered with local universities and speech-language professionals. These collaborations establish clinics and centers focused on assessing, treating, and supporting children with speech and language disorders, regardless of their families' ability to pay for services across the nation.
"As proponents guided by the enduring principles of the Scottish Rite, our recent collaboration with WVU embodies a profound commitment to charitable initiatives and community welfare,” said Nate Gladish, the Valley of Morgantown representative. “Stemming from our extensive history of charitable endeavors, this donation marks the commencement of a cooperative endeavor, aimed at integrating our organization's foundational values with a vision for enduring impact.”
The Scottish Rite donation was made through the WVU Foundation, the nonprofit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the University.
To learn more about the services offered at the WVU Speech, Language, and Hearing Clinic, visit health.wvu.edu/clinics/speech-language-and-hearing-clinic/speech-language.