As a part of the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas, the Callier Center provides academic and clinical training for students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. U.T. Dallas students are exposed to a wide range of communication disorders while gaining real world experience logging hundreds of hours, working side-by-side with professionals.
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"Joy of Sound" Statue at Callier-Dallas |
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Speech pathology graduate students Ashley Danaher and Lizze Littlewood echoed the same themes when asked about their experience at Callier. Danaher said, "It's different than a lot of other programs. More specialized classes are offered here. And because it's in a large metroplex like Dallas we have many hospitals or schools to choose from when deciding where to do our practicum." She continued, "The clinical faculty is student-oriented. They guide us with examples and give us positive reinforcement." Littlewood added, "Other schools were not as supportive about getting clinical experience. It's an amazing practicum experience here. We get to see and interact with so many varieties of disorders. Even undergraduate students get tons of hands-on experience."
The Callier Center also plays an important role in educating children. In collaboration with U.T. Southwestern Medical Center and the Dallas Independent School District, the center provides an accredited child development program where children who are deaf learn and play side-by-side with non-hearing impaired children. The program begins taking infants at six weeks of age and continues to kindergarten. Between the ages of 2 and 5 the classes are team-taught by a deaf education teacher and an early childhood teacher. Karen Clark, director of the education division said of the program, "We see lots of progress with the children. Hard of hearing kids go on to specialized deaf education classes and some go back to regular neighborhood schools with support. Both the deaf and typically developing kids gain from the experience."
Phillip Wilson, head of audiology, sums up the way most feel about being a part of the Callier experience. "I was working with a little girl and we fit her with new hearing aids and she wasn't making a lot of progress, but her parents were hesitant to do a cochlear implant. They finally did it about a month ago. And yesterday I ran into them as they were coming in for a visit and I said, "Hi," and she looked at me and said, "Hi!" as clear as can be. Just like that. She's only 3 years old. Things like that happen all the time."
-- Rich Edwards
Learn more about the Callier Center for Communication Disorders.
601 Colorado Street || Austin, TX 78701-2982 || Telephone: (512)499-4200
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