During Better Hearing and Speech Month (BHSM) in May, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), Rockville, Md, will release new resources from the Identify the Signs campaign to educate the public about the early signs of communication disorders and how early detection can help. To see a multimedia version of this press release, click here.

This year’s BHSM theme is “Communication Disorders Are Treatable,” and the awareness effort will highlight four topics, including newborn hearing screening and follow-up, noise-induced hearing loss in children, communication issues related to autism, and language and literacy. Among the new resources from the Identify the Signs campaign:

1) Panel discussion. An online panel of experts from ASHA, Easter Seals, and the Department of Education discussing communication disorders and their treatment, hosted via Google+ Hangout on May 6 from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. EDT. RSVP for the live event here.

2) A Twitter party hosted by parenting blogger Michele McGraw (@scrappinmichele) on May 20 from 12:00 to 1:00 PM EDT. ASHA experts will be on hand to discuss early detection of speech and hearing disorders in children. No registration is required; those interested in joining can follow the hashtag #BHSMChat at that time.

3) A new infographic illustrating the prevalence and cost of communication disorders, which can be viewed at http://identifythesigns.org/the-facts.

4) Four topical podcasts related to the weekly BHSM themes, which can be accessed at http://podcast.asha.org.

  • Week 1: Newborn Hearing Screening—Patti Martin, PhD, CCC-A, director of audiology and speech pathology, Arkansas Children’s Hospital
  • Week 2: Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in Children—Jessica Rossi-Katz, PhD, CCC-A, associate professor of Speech, Language, Hearing Sciences, Metropolitan State University of Denver
  • Week 3: Autism Diagnosis and Treatment—Patricia Prelock, PhD, CCC-SLP, dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Vermont
  • Week 4: Building Language and Literacy Skills During the Summer—Lyndsey Zurawski, MS, CCC-SLP, speech-language pathologist, Palm Beach County, FL, school district

ASHA encourages the public to sign the Universal Declaration of Communication Rights to help bring attention to people with communication disorders and the professional care that can help them.

For more information about the early warning signs of communication disorders and where to go for help, visit IdentifyTheSigns.org.

Source: ASHA