Shady Spring Elementary

Shady Spring, West Virginia

This is my second year at SSES. Both years, I have held activities to promote BHSM. I use all of my Faculty Senate and PTO money to fund this month. At the beginning of each week, I put a little something in the teachers' and staff's mailboxes. Week one was the BHSM bracelet with a note saying "thanks for all you do", week 2 was a BHSM pen with a card that said "Make a note-May is Better Hearing and Speech Month", week 3 was a BHSM post-it note pad with a label on it that said "Sticking up for Better Hearing and Speech Month", and week 4 was a bottle of water with a card that gave information about voice disorders and ways to use your voice safely. I also gave each staff member a fact sheet about speech and hearing disorders.

Also during each week, a contest was held to increase awareness about speech and hearing. Week 1 was a coloring contest for Pre-K and Kindergarten, week 2 was a word-search contest for 1st and 2nd grades, week 3 was a word-search contest for 3rd and 4th grades, and week 4 was an activity book contest for 5th graders and a staff participation activity for the teachers and faculty. All winners were announced to the entire school and received free ice cream. Our 2 staff winners received a BHSM notepad with leather case and a BHSM lunch box!

We had a great time and are looking forward to doing more each year to promote BHSM!

Submitted by:
Alicia D. Lett, MA, CCC-SLP