Atlanta Speech School

Established in 1938, the Atlanta Speech School (the "School") is composed of four schools, a clinic offering four distinct therapeutic and academic services, and a professional adult learning institute for coaching and teaching with global reach. These programs share a common mission: to help each person develop their full potential through language and literacy. Each day, extraordinarily dedicated and talented individuals make significant differences in the lives of the children and adults they serve, helping them discover their voice, and the power of that voice, for a lifetime. We do this through the construction of the deep reading brain. For that purpose, the programs of the School work independently and collaboratively to ensure the best outcome for each person served. As a core part of its mission, the School has never denied access to a student in need of our services because of a family's socioeconomic circumstances. The School effects transformative change in the lives of children and adults through research-based practices, innovation, advocacy, and partnerships with other organizations so that each child at the Atlanta Speech School and every child served - in Georgia and beyond - can acquire the language and literacy abilities essential for deciding their own future and going on to make the greatest possible difference in the lives of others.As the nation's most comprehensive center for language and literacy, the four schools on campus serve approximately 390 preschoolers and elementary-age children annually. These schools are the Katherine Hamm Center (a listening, spoken language, literacy program for children ages birth to six who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families); the Wardlaw School (elementary school for children with dyslexia); Stepping Stones (literacy-foundation preschool for young children with significant speech and/or language delays); and the Anne & Jim Kenan Preschool (a language and literacy focused early childhood education).

Through the clinic, the School provides diagnostic, therapeutic and remediation services to both children and adults along the reading brain continuum. These services include Speech-Language (evaluation and therapy for children and adults); Occupational Therapy (pediatric therapy to address sensory integration, handwriting, or fine/gross motor difficulties); and the Learning Lab (specialized individual or small group academic intervention for children struggling academically). In all cases, services are available through telepractice.

Through the Rollins Center for Language & Literacy ("Rollins Center"), the Speech School acts as the educational equivalent of a teaching hospital. The Rollins Center takes professional development to the field, allowing the School's mission to reach beyond the campus. With a specific vision of literacy and justice for all, the Rollins Center carries the School's 85+ years of expertise through research-based practices along the continuum from prenatal through fifth grade. This work is made available for all child-facing adults: educators, college students, caregivers, health care professionals and communities across Georgia and beyond. Collaborating with an advisory council of thirteen of the nation's foremost experts on child development and literacy, the Rollins Center synthesizes the science of reading and integrates on campus with all School programs to develop and deliver onsite teacher training and coaching, in addition to providing professional development to schools within and outside the region and offering free online training through our Cox Campus learning platform and virtual community of practice. The Rollins Center partners with public and private organizations, including the Georgia Department of Education, to reach more than 300,000 members on Cox Campus to deliver, for free, proven language and literacy strategies and to improve effectiveness of service delivery across sectors to equitably transform young lives. One example of the Rollins Center's work that illustrates its role at the beginning of the literacy continuum is Talk With Me Baby (TWMB). Since 2017, the Rollins Center has worked with Grady Hospital to change the standard of care to include ensuring every infant leaves the hospital with an adult prepared to deliver language nutrition. More than 7,000 babies have received the benefits of TWMB, the hospital-wide ecosystem that prioritizes families' relationships with children and applying the science of healthy brain development and language acquisition. In an independent study, the Brazelton Touchpoints Center, which operates under the shared umbrella of Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's graded an "A" in design, implementation and outcomes for caregivers and children and strongly recommended its replication.