Sound Beginnings named 2013 'Best of State'

Sound Beginnings at Utah State University is the proud recipient of Utah’s 2013 Best of State Award for Public Preschool Program.

The privately-sponsored Best of State Awards were created to recognize the excellence, creativity and contributions of individuals, organizations and businesses in Utah. The program officially recognized Sound Beginnings during an awards gala May 11 in Salt Lake City.

The Sound Beginnings Program provides integrated services that include audiological testing and treatment, speech-language therapy and preschool education. Services are delivered through home visits, center-based toddler groups and preschool class instruction.

The program was founded in 2007 when the Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education and the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management at Utah State University teamed up to establish a cutting edge birth to age 5 educational program. It serves the families of children who are deaf/hard-of-hearing who have chosen to communicate through listening and spoken language.

In addition to providing services to children with hearing loss and their families, Sound Beginnings serves as an integrated, interdisciplinary training site for graduate students in audiology, deaf education and speech-language pathology.

“Sound Beginnings’ strength is combining evidence-based educational practices with an interdisciplinary graduate training program,” said Kim Corbin-Lewis, the Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education department head. “It’s exciting for the faculty, the graduate students and the children and their families.”

USU Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services

Contact: Kim Corbin-Lewis, department head, Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, 435-797-1302, kim.corbin-lewis@usu.edu