Oklahoma City

About Us

The Hearing Enrichment Language Program

The Hearing Enrichment Language Program is a not for profit program dedicated to developing the listening and speaking skills of children who are hard of hearing and/or deaf by working in partnership with parents, educators, and the medical community. HELP was established to provide an oral option for children with hearing loss in Oklahoma and to offer education, encouragement, and hope for these children and their families. In 1996, HELP began a relationship with King's Gate School to provide preschool classes in a mainstream preschool with appropriate support for preschoolers who are deaf and hard of hearing. HELP also began a consultative relationship with St. Joseph's Institute for the Deaf in Chesterfield, Missouri, a distinguished child and family center program that has been a leader in the field of auditory-oral education for many years. In 1997, the auditory-verbal philosophy was adopted and a self-contained preschool program for two and three year olds was implemented. In 2004, a parent-toddler class was added to prepare children with hearing loss to transition into the HELP preschool.

HELP's innovative model which is guided by auditory-verbal principles allows children with significant hearing loss to be successfully mainstreamed into regular classrooms. Appropriate support is offered by the HELP team in the regular classroom and weekly auditory-verbal therapy is also considered a part of each child's educational program. A preschool for two and three year olds who are hearing and hard of hearing is held two mornings a week focusing on early listening skills and is rich with language opportunities that are critical for all children. A parent-toddler class is available for children and parents to provide an opportunity to prepare our little ones for the transition to the HELP preschool. Another aspect of our program is the family workshops held every two months to educate, encourage, and offer hope to HELP families. The workshop includes structured language experiences provided for the children and educational programs and support groups for family members. We also offer weekly auditory-verbal therapy in Tulsa, Oklahoma three days a week.

HELP also offers cochlear implant rehabilitation to children who are learning to listen with a newly implanted device. Listening therapy is provided to children implanted at our Center for at least three months after activation of the device and is continued as recommended by the team. The Hearing Enrichment Language Program's model is unique and one that continues to grow as more families become aware of our services. Our caring staff and the support we have received from INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center at the Hough Ear Institute, and Our Lord's Community Church has allowed the dream of an oral program in Oklahoma to become a reality.

Professionals

The HELP multi-disciplinary team includes:

Medical Director	R. Stanley Baker, M.D.
Program Director	Joanna T. Smith, M.S., CCC-SLP, Cert. AVT
Clinical Education Director	Teresa H. Caraway, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Cert. AVT
Speech-Language Pathologists:	Tamara H. Elder, M.S., CCC-SLP
	Wendelyn DeMoss, M.S., CCC-SLP, Cert. AVT
	Kyla Clemons, M.S., CCC-SLP
	Darcy L. Stowe, M.S., CCC-SLP
	Patricia Duit, M.S., CFY-SLP
Audiology Clinic Manager	Jace A. Wolfe, Ph.D, CCC-A
Audiologists:	Heather I. Kasulis, Au.D., CCC-A
Consulting Psychologist	Marcia Moore, Ph.D.

Evaluation

Evaluation of each child and his or her progress is a regular and essential component in the HELP program. Parents and team members need to know the level at which a child is presently functioning in order to plan effective therapy strategies to move forward. The HELP team members: otologists, speech-language pathologists, pediatric audiologists, psychologist, and regular educator, as appropriate, are involved in the evaluation of a child. This evaluation may consist of informal testing, observation, interviews, and formal testing. Formal testing using standardized test instruments for children is conducted according to each child's developmental level. When the child is ready for formalized assessments, a battery of standardized instruments will be utilized to provide helpful information. A child is re-evaluated at least annually to assist in developing effective therapy strategies.

Auditory-Verbal Therapy

The HELP program provides children and their families with private auditory-verbal therapy to help children develop their listening, language and speaking skills. These sessions are help at the HELP Clinic at least once per week. Sessions may be scheduled two times per week based upon the child's and family's needs. HELP strongly believes parents are the primary educators of their children. Parents must participate every week in the auditory-verbal sessions to learn how to most effectively help their children learn to listen and talk in the home. The speech-language pathologist guides the parents in planning strategies to integrate listening, speech, language, and cognition into daily home activities.

Otologic Medical Clinic

Patients from Oklahoma, the United States and abroad come to the Hough Ear Institute for diagnosis, treatment or surgical restoration of hearing. The Otologic Medical Clinic is staffed by board-certified physicians. It provides a continuum of care including comprehensive diagnostic testing, medical treatment, surgery and follow-up care and fitting for hearing devices. The specially-trained staff includes certified audiologists and medical assistants.

The latest microsurgical techniques for the treatment of otologic diseases are utilized. Many of these techniques were originally developed or refined by the Otologic Medical Staff.

Specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of hearing disorders, the medical staff of the clinic brings many years of professional experience to patients. Medical staff otologists/neuro-otologists include Jack Hough, M,.D.; Michael McGee, M.D.; R. Stanley Baker, M.D.; R. Kent Dyer, Jr., M.D.; Mark Wood M.D., and Richard Kopke, M.D. Dr. Dyer and Dr. Wood also provide full ear, nose and throat clinical and surgical care for patients with needs in this specialty.

HELP Research

Collaborations with industry, private research foundations and faculty from the University of Oklahoma provide extended opportunities and resources to develop and provide research in the field of cochlear implants and the pediatric population. HELP has been selected as a partner for the Widex 2005 Pediatric Assistance Program.

HELP Resource Library

HELP maintains a lending resource library on issues related to developing auditory-verbal communication for children. These materials are available to parents, other adult family members, outside service providers and the community.