Help a child with speech sound disorder be better understood by their classmates. Help an adult who suffered a stroke regain their communication skills and reconnect with family. These are just some of the ways that you can transform lives by supporting the CSUSM Speech-Language Clinic. The Department of Speech Language Pathology offers free intensive speech-language therapy programs to our local community.
Each year, we have over 30 graduate students providing supervised speech-language therapy to over 150 clients of all ages across eight clinics. This aligns with our vision, which is to provide free community-based services. We have partnered with many community-based sites in the county, such as Palomar Healthcare, Vista Unified School District, San Dieguito Union High School District, Escondido Union School District, TERI, and Center for Children and Families. During the academic year, we provide over 15,000 hours of free therapy services to individuals in the community. Our own CSUSM Speech-Language Clinic, which opened in July 2014, provides free services to adult clients with neurological disorders -- including aphasia, motor speech disorders and cognitive-communication deficits -- who are in the chronic phase of recovery.
The vision of the university clinic is to promote wellness, quality of life and independence. Clients have reported increased confidence in speaking with peers in social settings, decreased stress or anxiety that is typically felt when talking in public places, a sense of self-worth, increased independence, and being a contributing member of their community. Donations would be appreciated so that we can continue to offer these free clinics to the community.
*Match or Challenge gifts not reflected in fundraising thermometer. Learn more about our match and challenges.