Glen Burnie Park Elementary School

Glen Burnie, Maryland

Glen Burnie Park in Glen Burnie, Maryland, has been celebrating Better Hearing and Speech Month for 13 years. Each year, speech students participate in a poster contest. Winners are chosen by the students in the school (teachers take a few minutes to take their class to the cafeteria to view the posters and then tally individual votes). This year's winning poster was entitled "I learned the proper way to pronounce S and CH words." Super Duper and ASHA posters are hung around the school. In addition, each year, I go into each third grade classroom and give a 45-minute speech about the job of an SLP. I explain what articulation and language means. We talk about stuttering and tolerance. We discuss how the voice works and what vocal abuse means and how to avoid problems. We also spend a lot of time on how the ear works and how to preserve our hearing. The ASHA poster "Listen to your Buds" was very popular with students this year! They also received the ASHA BHSM activity books and stickers. Third graders were encouraged to create posters about communication or something they learned during my time in class.

At the end of the month we celebrate our accomplishments of the year and announce the speech poster contest winners at our end of the year ice cream social. We make our own sundaes and receive awards and prizes. This year all prizes were purchased from the ASHA BHSM store. The kids really liked the pencil bags, crayons, and water bottles. A few years ago, the Maryland Gazette covered the story of our party. Its something the students REALLY look forward to each year. Funding for the party is provided by myself and the GBPES PTO. I have attached a picture of my students with myself and my SLPA.

Submitted by:
Amy Rubin, MA, CCC-SLP