The importance of verbal communication as a vital skill toconvey wants, needs or desires and the dedication of professionalsto improving that skill is being recognized this month with thenational designation of May as Better Hearing and Speech Month.

“This is to raise awareness of speech language development anddisorders,” said Rachel Powell, a speech language pathologist atMamie Martin Elementary School. “Communication is essential in asociety for a variety of reasons … and if one doesn’t have thetools necessary to be successful, we want to give them the chanceto improve their communications ability.”

Powell is one of six speech language pathologists in theBrookhaven School District. Three are on staff at Mamie Martin, oneat Brookhaven Elementary School, one travels to all kindergartenclasses in the district and a part-time specialist works with olderstudents at the other schools.

“Speech language pathologists serve as a support to otherspecial education services,” Powell said.

The specialists work with the students on a variety ofspeech-related disorders, including articulation, difficulty inexpressing themselves in an age appropriate manner, impropergrammar, autism, hearing impaired and the developmentallydelayed.

First-grader Gatson Walker said he was receiving additionalinstruction because he wasn’t articulating his r’s correctly.

Walker is one of 124 students who received some form ofadditional instruction from the speech language department at MamieMartin this year. That number is likely to change slightly nextyear, but is about average for the school and for other schools itssize, Powell said.

“Some of them have been dismissed, but there will be a fewreferrals with the new kindergarten class,” she said.

A child is dismissed when they have overcome their difficulty orgraduate high school, Powell said.

“I must stress the importance of early detection andintervention,” she said.

Students can begin receiving assistance from the school withspeech or hearing problems at the age of 3, Powell said.

“If you suspect your child has a speech language problem, talkto your pediatrician about a referral for a speech languageassessment or contact the school,” she said.

Signs a child may need a referral are varied, she said, but themost obvious is difficulty telling a story.

“That’s a ringer because of the organization it takes in thethought processes,” Powell said.

Another clear indicator is difficulty in understanding thechild, especially by parents.

“Even at age 3, if they’re difficult to understand there may because for concern,” she said.

Other possible indicators include the child saying a lot ofthings that don’t make sense, inventing new words or havingdifficulty understanding and following orders.

Not all speech language pathologists work with students. Manycan be found working outside of schools in nursing homes, hospitalsor rehabilitation centers where they help adults overcome disorderscaused by strokes, traumatic brain injury or even with dialectcoaching to remove accents.