HESP Summer Camp Returns After COVID-19 Hiatus

After two years of being unable to host their “Come Hear” Summer Intensive Program because of COVID-19, the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences’ (HESP) Maryland Cochlear Implant Center of Excellence (MCICE) is once again welcoming 3-6 year-olds with significant hearing loss to campus. 

The camp, which will run Mondays-Fridays, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. from July 11-22, is much-needed, says Dr. Nicole Nguyen. Dr. Nguyen, an associate clinical professor and HESP’s director of clinical audiology, runs the camp alongside her speech-language pathology colleague, Associate Clinical Professor Eusabia Mont. 

“We’re just not seeing newly cochlear-implanted children or children with hearing aids making progress the way that they should; especially kids in the school system that were relying on speech and language therapy from school, who missed out on a year and half of services,” Dr. Nguyen said. “They're not acquiring new words or new sounds at the rate that we would like to see.”

“COVID-19 highlighted the disparities experienced in many communities,” added Mont. “Our cochlear-implanted children and their families may experience health and educational disparities, making specialized intervention critically important to support speech and language development. “

Recognizing the increased need for services, MCICE can provide financial support to offset the camp’s $600 cost, and is also open to expanding its usual class size of roughly six to eight students. 

“If we can get enough coverage for the individualized therapy sessions, we will make it work,” Dr. Nguyen said. “We typically have two rotations of therapy, so if we need to extend that to three rotations each day, we will do that.” 

Two graduate students in audiology, two graduate students in speech-language pathology and between five and eight undergraduate students usually staff the camp, with the graduate students running 30-minute pull-out therapy sessions and undergraduate students interacting with the children during free play periods. 

Marjan Davoodian, who volunteered at Come Hear while taking Hearing and Speech in the Evening (HESPIE) classes in 2019, is looking forward to being one of the camp’s Au.D. students this year. 

“I observed student clinicians in their therapy sessions, being given constructive and positive feedback by their supervisors,” Davoodian said. “Now, as an Au.D. student, I finally have the opportunity to be on the other side of that glass window.”

Curriculum-wise, students are read a different book each day of the camp, with the contents of that book being the inspiration behind that day’s activities and lessons. The majority of the books are animal focused, as they “evoke sound noises,” and fittingly, on the last Friday of the camp, camp-goers typically get to visit the campus farm. 

“All of the classroom activities are built from the book, but they are also built from the students’ therapy goals,” explained Dr. Nguyen. “The clinicians get together, look at their kids and say ‘OK everyone needs to work on these things,’ so they interweave that into the arts and crafts activities, field trips, all of the activities. The kids are actually getting therapy all day, they just don’t realize it.” 

Learning doesn’t stop once the camp ends, either. Upon departure, all children receive a learning extension kit, which gives them the opportunity to keep honing their skills at home. 

“I am very excited to host participants this summer,” said Mont. “I think we all need the feeling of togetherness that Come Hear Summer provides.”

Parents interested in enrolling their child can do so now here. For questions, please email mcice@umd.edu. 

Photos are courtesy of MCICE. 

Published on Tue, Mar 15, 2022 - 2:39PM