Savannah Speech and Hearing Center, a nonprofit organization serving the speech pathology and audiology needs of the Coastal Empire, was pleased to honor the Sound Start Class of 2016 on June 1.  The Class of 2016 included two graduates who will move on to K-5 this fall.

The two graduates moving on to K-5 earned reading, sight word reading and math awards.  Additional awards were given to other students including phonics listening award, the award for reading over 200 books with parents, as well as citizenship and friendship awards.  All students presented progress performances in areas of listening, reading, language development, vocabulary, phonemic awareness and speech.

This year's ceremony was themed “Horton Hears A Who...What, When, Where and Why”, representing the ability to break through communication barriers to become a strong oral/aural communicator who is able to understand and use spoken language.

“Our goal is to teach children with hearing loss to listen, speak and understand spoken language in order to be successful in a mainstream educational setting,” said Tracey Edenfield, teacher of the deaf at Sound Start.  “I could not be more proud of the class of 2016 and all that they have achieved in order to move on to the next level in their education.”

In August 2007, the Board of Directors of Savannah Speech and Hearing Center approved the Sound Start program, a never-before-available service in this area – an auditory/oral preschool program. With the help of dedicated staff and community support as well as a coordinated effort with Calvary Day School in Savannah, Sound Start opened its doors to children with hearing loss of Savannah and the surrounding communities in Georgia and South Carolina whose families had chosen spoken language as the communication option for their child. Thus far, the program has been an overwhelming success.