Walker, Jr., M.D. for the purpose of testing and treating children with impaired hearing. In 1953, the program was expanded by its director, Edna K. Monsees, to offer diagnostic, therapy and educational services for hearing impaired children including hearing and hearing aid evaluations, lipreading lessons, auditory training and speech-language development sessions. At this time, too, diagnostic a
nd therapy services were provided to children with speech and language problems not associated with hearing loss such as language delay, articulation disorders, voice problems and stuttering. Because of the increasing number of children presenting severe problems in the acquisition of language in early life, the program expanded its services to include a special school, initially located in the Sunday School classrooms of the St. The school was devoted to using methods aimed at developing oral communication in children who otherwise might not learn to understand or use speech. The school remained in existence through 1986 when public school programs were able to meet the needs of children with such severe communication disorders. In May 1959, the entire hearing and speech program was incorporated as a non-profit agency under the name of the Children’s Hearing and Speech Center. This Center was affiliated closely with Children’s Hospital, which provided it with diagnostic facilities within the Hospital. By agreement with the Hospital, the Center was under the direction of its own Board of Trustees and responsible for its own budget and administration. All diagnostic, therapy and special education services for children with communication disorders were managed by the Center’s professional staff. Through the efforts of the Center’s Board of Trustees and particularly its president, Mrs. Desmond FitzGerald, in 1962 a modern two-story building was constructed near Children’s Hospital to accommodate the Center’s School. In 1964, Gilbert R. Herer, Ph.D. became the Center’s Executive Director, initiating expansion of its audiological services and the establishment of its preschool early intervention program for the children with communication disorders. A third floor was added to the building in 1968 which permitted expansion of the preschool’s early intervention efforts, and increased the Center's diagnostic facilities. Following deliberations between the Boards of the respective institutions, in 1976 the Children’s Hearing and Speech Center merged into the organizational structure of Children’s Hospital. As stipulated in the merger agreement, the Center became the Hospital’s professional Department of Hearing and Speech. Further, members of the Center’s Board of Trustees became the Hospital’s Hearing and Speech Board for the purpose of raising funds and guiding their use to support the Department’s endeavors. Also, several members of the Center’s Board were selected for membership on the Hospital’s governing and corporate boards. In 1978, the Children’s Hearing and Speech Center moved into its present facilities at the then new Children’s Hospital National Medical Center. Starting in 1984, the Center’s staff began delivering services in Fairfax County, Virginia, which was a precursor to the establishment of the Hospital’s first satellite consultative center in that area. The staff now conducts audiology and speech-language pathology diagnostic and therapy services at all of the Hospital’s five satellite centers located in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, as well as at the Hospital. In addition, the Children’s Hearing and Speech Center is responsible for the speech-language pathology services of the Scottish Rite Center for Childhood Language Disorders located in the Adams-Morgan area of D.C. The Scottish Rite Center was built in 1989 by the D.C. Scottish Rite Masonic organization and dedicated by then First Lady Mrs. Barbara Bush. It is generously supported by the Scottish Rite Foundation so that services to its bilingual, culturally diverse clientele are provided regardless of a family’s financial circumstances. In 2001, Sheela Stuart, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, an expert in the field of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) became the Center’s third Director. Under her direction, the Center has increased services to its hospital inpatients, and expanded in the areas of AAC, cochlear implant evaluation/intervention, modified barium swallow assessment, dysphagia evaluation/treatment and more.
~ Specialized Intervention Including Dog Therapy ~
