For more than 60 years, the U of A Speech and Hearing Clinic has been a lifeline for families across Northwest Arkansas.

Housed in the Epley Center for Health Professions, the clinic offers everything from early intervention for toddlers to specialized voice evaluations and sensory integration therapy, all in pursuit of its goal to provide high-quality speech, language and audiology services to the community while offering exceptional clinical education experiences for students.

The clinic expanded its services this fall, hoping to reach more families and improve outcomes for those with speech, language and hearing disorders. 

"Our model is unique," said Clinic Director Jessica Danley. "We're training the next generation of speech-language pathologists and audiologists in our community and beyond, so it's special to have a hand in shaping the clinical services that individuals in our community and beyond will receive in the very near future."

Some of those community services are being developed through the clinic's new Guiding Research Opportunities With Translational Habilitation (GROWTH) program. This new space runs early intervention groups each fall and spring semester, designed to increase the speech and language abilities of children aged 18 months to six years.

Sue E's Sprouts, which meets twice weekly throughout the fall, is targeted towards children between the ages of 18 and 36 months. Children are paired one-on-one with a language facilitator while engaging with a curriculum designed to foster growth in communication and cognitive skills.

Chop's Champs, a new intervention group for three- to six-year-olds, will also be offered two half days each week, starting in the fall of 2026. Children will be paired with a language facilitator who will implement interventions designed to foster communication skills, with students being supervised by a certified and licensed speech-language pathologist.

Cynthia Watson is a clinical instructor at the clinic, working in the GROWTH program and helping train future speech-language pathologists. She said coming back to work with students always felt like her life's calling after spending 30 years in the industry.

"It's so fun to be able to train my eventual replacements and the speech-language pathologists who will go all over the United States," Watson said. "It's such a great experience because of the dynamic services that we offer for training and educating our students."

Additionally, the clinic has doubled the size of its Schmieding Foundation Sensory Room. The sensory room offers a controlled and safe environment where individuals can engage their senses through lights, sounds and textures. In addition to their calming effects, sensory rooms can also enhance the development of cognitive, speech, language and motor skills.

The new expansion allows for more movement, more engaging activities, and provides a unique space for interdisciplinary training and intervention. Students from the college's occupational therapy, nursing, communication sciences, and special education programs all benefit from training in the sensory room.

One parent of a child coming to the clinic for services noted that the addition of sensory therapy "has really helped with his development."

"It helps to regulate his emotions, his body," the parent said. "And I feel like when that happens, he is able to focus on learning more words, building that confidence even more."

Each October, the clinic hosts multiple community programs to bring awareness to speech and hearing conditions.

Danley has developed a community voice care screening program for students, faculty, staff and community members to raise awareness of voice disorders and give graduate students vital hands-on clinical training. Stephanie Hicks, a faculty member, certified academic language therapist (CALT) and speech-language pathologist, hosts free dyslexia simulations, guiding attendees through reading and handwriting activities that allow participants to experience the frustrations faced by those with literacy difficulties. Taryn Loyd, an audiologist at the clinic, also provides free hearing screenings, increasing community access to education on hearing health. 

Danley said that the college's support of clinical education and the recruitment of "exceptional clinical faculty" has enabled the clinic to continue expanding its footprint and impact.

"We all have our own niche areas and areas of expertise, and as the college has supported us in expanding our faculty, clinical faculty have been able to offer more specialized clinical services and student training experiences," Danley said.

Visit the Speech and Hearing Clinic website to learn more about the services offered or to request an appointment with a clinician.