California State University East Bay – Speech Language and Hearing Services – Norma S. and Ray R. Rees Clinic

Services of the Clinic:

• Aphasia Treatment Program (ATP)

The Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and the Norma S. and Ray R. Rees Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic offers an innovative and cutting-edge group treatment program for persons with aphasia. The Aphasia Treatment Progam (ATP) was established by CSD Professor Emerita, Dr. Jan Avent in 1996. The program is proudly founded on the principles of the Life Participation Approach for Aphasia, championed worldwide by leading aphasiologists (see Life Participation Approach to Aphasia). This approach places the life concerns of persons with aphasia at the heart of clinical decision-making. Further, this approach prioritizes the meaningful participation of persons with aphasia in society. ATP provides a rich social environment for persons with aphasia to interact with peers who have aphasia, graduate student clinicians, trained volunteers, and program faculty who are all nationally certified and state-licensed speech-language pathologists.

• Adult Autism Spectrum Disorders Services

The Conversation Club is a social skills group intervention for adults with autism.  Given the prevalence of autism has increased 10-fold over the past decade to approximately 1 in 88 children (Centers for Disease Control, 2008), there is a growing number of older individuals (adolescent/adults) with autism in need of appropriate interventions and services.
The Conversation Club, developed by Dr. Shubha Kashinath, collaborates with the College Link Program (CLP) to provide social pragmatic interventions to college level students with autism enrolled at CSU East Bay.  The Conversation Club is structured to increase participants’ use of appropriate social communication skills in naturally occurring activities and settings.  The treatment program incorporates principles of Theory of Mind and Social Cognition in an inclusive setting to facilitate participants’ acquisition, practice, and generalization of targeted social skills.

• Description

ConversAACion – An AAC Conversation Club, is a twice-weekly virtual conversation group for school-age participants who use speech-generating devices to support communication. It is run by graduate student clinicians under the supervision of Elena Dukhovny. Our focus is on helping participants use their speech-generating devices to express their thoughts and grow the complexity of their language in authentic age-appropriate activities like movie discussions and virtual field trips.

Who can attend?

The group currently includes Cal State East Bay students who are enrolled in the College Link Program.

• Rees Summer Communication Support Services

PIONEER PALS – a summer camp for children with autism

Campers practice social communication skills in the context of fun and engaging themed activities, arts and crafts, outdoor play, music, and more. The focus of our camp is on building camper skills in the context of authentic relationships and interactions with supervisors, peers, and volunteers. We welcome siblings of campers to help us create an inclusive community for young children with autism, learning new ways to interact and play with their brother/sister.

Children ages 3-10 are eligible to participate, along with one additional sibling. Pioneer Pals may consider an additional sibling within this age range.  Campers with no siblings are also welcome.  Camp typically runs Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Cal State East Bay Rees Speech Clinic, MB1099 on the Hayward campus.

• Mobile Hearing Screenings

The Clinic operates a mobile screening van that is the only one of its kind in the East Bay. This vehicle makes it possible to provide hearing and speech/language screenings by going to schools, heath fairs and senior centers throughout the East Bay. At present, the Center conducts some 900 preschool and grade-school hearing screenings annually. Since the mobile screening van allows the screenings to be conducted quickly, more children can be screened each year.

Screenings are provided to the community at low cost by graduate students, who are in clinical training at the University and work under the supervision of licensed and certified professionals.

To find out more about the availability of the mobile unit and to inquire about scheduling screenings, please contact (510) 885-3241.

• Community Resources

A list of community resources

keywords: spanish