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Language-Learning Early-Advantage Program (LEAP)

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LEAP

The University of Maryland Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences is pleased to offer a comprehensive preschool program located within the Hearing and Speech Clinic on the College Park campus.

The Language-Learning Early-Advantage Program (LEAP) is an individualized communication enrichment preschool program. It features a strong language-based curriculum and a very small teacher-child ratio designed to maximize each child's speech and language development. This program is open to children between the ages of three and five years and especially welcomes those with speech and/or language delays only or children who are learning English as a second language.

Instruction is provided by a certified speech-language pathologist on faculty within the Department, assisted by graduate and undergraduate students. If needed, adjunct services could be provided to children and their families by other departments on campus, such as Human Development, Counseling Education, Special Education and Educational Test and Measurements.

Become a Friend of LEAP: The Language-Learning Early-Advantage Program (LEAP) welcomes contributions to assist with the work of the preschool. To contribute to LEAP, please contact Nan Bernstein Ratner or contact Lisa Anne Taylor regarding other ways to donate and estate planning.

devin & yun

The semester tuition fee includes the following services:
  • Initial comprehensive speech and language evaluation upon enrollment as needed
  • Annual comprehensive hearing evaluation and audiological monitoring as needed
  • Pre-K education checklist provided to determine Kindergarten readiness
  • Speech-language therapy, as needed, on an individual and small group basis throughout the school year
  • Regularly scheduled parent/family training workshops on topics relevant to communicative development
  • Regular, written reports and regularly scheduled conferences to discuss each child's progress

Addie

The curriculum features:
  • State of the art approaches to speech and language enrichment and pre-school education in keeping with the University's research and educational mission
  • Community-based instruction through frequent field trips
  • A strong emphasis on the use of children's literature to enhance language development
  • Early exposure to pre-reading skills such as phonological awareness and the alphabetic principle for those children demonstrating readiness


dianne handy & friends

Dianne Handy, M.S., CCC-SLP; LEAP Director
Department of Hearing & Speech Sciences
University of Maryland, College Park
Lefrak Hall, Room 0100
College Park, MD 20742
dhandy@hesp.umd.edu
(301) 405-4228




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Department of Hearing & Speech Sciences
0100 Lefrak Hall, College Park, MD 20742
Tel: 301-405-4214
Fax: 301-314-2023