& Speech Month on Thursday, May 8 in the Rayburn House Office Building Foyer from 11 am to 1 pm along with the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) at the Centers of Disease Control, National Institute on Deafness & Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), and over a dozen other hearing and speech organizations. Actor Taro Alexander from the hit off-Broadway show Stomp! and members of Congress are scheduled to appear.
The goal of Better Hearing and Speech Month 2002 (BHSM) is to help raise public awareness, encourage community participation, and empower individuals to spread the word about the value of audiology and speech-language pathology services. Here’s a few ways you can use BHSM resources to promote better hearing and speech in your community.
Heighten awareness among young children, parents and grandparents about the importance of communication and the related disorders
- Distribute the free BHSM children’s activity book, “Health Communication, It’s Cool!”, among your students and their parents to highlight the importance of good communication. Over 150,000 activity books were distributed to ASHA members who requested up to 50 free copies.
- Put up the free color poster, “Healthy Communication is Very Important” (featured in the April 16 issue of The ASHA Leader) in your school’s hallways and classrooms, clinic, or university. Over 2,000 posters were distributed to ASHA members who requested a free copy.
- Download the BHSM screensaver for your school’s, clinic’s or university’s computers.
- Show pride in your profession by displaying the BHSM 2002 theme on T-shirts, mugs, pencils, and more. These items are also perfect for giveaways at health fairs or hearing screenings during May. To sell all of the products available for purchase, visit Shop ASHA .
Raise awareness among key legislators, administrators and other health or education decision-makers about speech and hearing
- Organize a product/health fair, a recognition ceremony or awards for outstanding achievement, or activities relating to hearing and speech advocacy or services in your community. You could use Annual Communication Awards - a project of the National Council on Communicative Disorders - sponsored by ASHA and the National Association for Hearing and Speech Action as a model.
- Use Better Hearing and Speech Month resources to educate legislators, benefit administrators, school administrators; identify referral sources; and inform patients on the importance of the services you provide. The sample public service announcements (PSAs), sample letter of request for proclamations, resolutions, and sample press releases are provided to help you make the greatest impact at the lowest cost. Use the models to develop your own materials.
- Use the congressional resolutions or have your state or local government approve a similar resolution to help reinforce the importance that healthy communication plays in everyday life.
- Raise awareness of the professions of audiology and speech-language pathology online by reproducing the BHSM on your work or organization’s Web site. Simply right click on the BHSM logo image and save to your computer.
- Share your BHSM ideas/stories via the ASHA online forums by clicking the DISCUSS link on the BHSM Web site or send an email to bhsm@asha.org . We’ll feature the best in The ASHA Leader and BHSM Web site.
For further information about the BHSM 2002 congressional activities, please contact Neil Snyder by email or by phone at 800-274-2376, ext. 4257. For additional information on the BHSM member resources, please contact Doug Plesh by email or by phone at 800-274-2376, ext. 4349. For further information on corporate sponsorships and marketing opportunities relating to ASHA’s BHSM activities, please contact Paige Wesley by email or by phone at 800-274-2376, ext. 4483. And to learn more about the Annual Communication Awards through the National Council on Communicative Disorders, please contact Russell Malone at 800-274-2376, ext. 4905.
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