Community Partnerships

Here is a small list of organizations our department partners with to support the local community:

Local Area Schools

We provide hearing screenings to a variety of public and charter schools. Ages have ranged from early childhood to high school.

Hearing screenings, presentations to business or community groups on topics including hearing loss, hearing assistive technology, and hearing conservation;
Custom earplugs - Students and clinical supervisors from our department took ear impressions for interested business employees at their facility.
Hearing conservation testing for a variety of groups - hearing protection counseling in compliance with OSHA guidelines.

We partner with businesses both large and small to provide the following:

The National Stuttering Association (NSA) is a self-help, self-advocacy group for adults who stutter.
The Twin Cities chapter of the NSA meets the second Thursday of the month, from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. at Bethlehem Baptist Church in downtown Minneapolis.
There is no charge to attend local chapter meetings.
Our graduate students and a clinical educator serve as volunteers in the NSA group meetings.

Minnesota Connect Aphasia Now (MnCAN) is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing programs that help people with aphasia improve communication and life participation.
Our graduate students volunteer within MnCAN to help support the communication of people with aphasia on a weekly basis.

SLHS faculty member Sheri Stronach is engaged in a research project that will culturally adapt early screening and intervention protocols for the Somali community following the model of community-engaged research she has collaborated on in Hispanic migrant farm-working communities in southwestern Florida and the isiZulu community of South Africa.
View the Somali Parents Autism Network webpage.

In 2007, the State of Minnesota mandated the reporting of newborn hearing screening results and added hearing loss to the panel of more than 50 rare conditions for which every newborn in Minnesota is screened unless parents opt-out.
SLHS faculty member Peggy Nelson was appointed by the Secretary of Health to be a member on the Minnesota Department of Health statutory committee on the early detection of hearing impairment.
View the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) webpage.

Partnering with a number of different organizations, SLHS faculty member Sheri Stronach is working to implement an evidence-based early intervention program for infants and toddlers with an autism spectrum disorder.
Conversations with community providers are guiding research and research evidence is guiding their intervention practices.
View the Minnesota Department of Education website.

The Minnesota Brain Injury Alliance advocates for services for persons with brain injury and their families.
The mission is to raise awareness and enhance the quality of life for all people affected by brain injury.

The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) provides assistance and resources for people with hearing loss and their families to learn how to adjust to living with hearing loss.
SLHS faculty are teaming up with the Hearing Loss of America to spread information about hearing loss and to give talks with the HLAA about hearing loss solutions.