Language-impaired children reap benefits from UA camp

Dan Hoffman Arizona Summer Wildcat Fellow children campers look on as Javon steadies his tower of blocks at the Wings On Words summer language camp. The 4-and 5-year-olds build upon their speech and language skills in a fun camp environment.

A University of Arizona summer camp for children with language impairments helps children learn about four times as fast as normal school programs, its director said.

"We see the progress here in six weeks that you normally don't see for six months during the regular school year," said Linda Swisher, director of Wings of Words and an associate professor in the department of speech and hearing sciences.

"They only see the kids once or twice a week. We see them for six weeks, five days a week," she said. "We see this as a model for other programs."

Language impaired children are those who have difficulty acquiring language despite having normal IQ's and hearing, said Barbara Kiernan, director of research for the camp.

She said the cause of the problems may relate to atypical development of the brain in utero.

The camp is available to children ages 4 to 6 years old.

Swisher said the program enrolls the children when they are young to help them stay socially interactive.

"If you can't communicate well, you develop very poor communication strategies, from acting out to pulling back and everywhere in between," she said.

The camp is run as a joint operation between the charity Scottish Rite and the university's Child Language Center.

The Scottish Rite rents its downtown building to the university for one dollar per year and provides scholarships for the children who cannot afford the camp, which costs $395.

To further offset the costs of research and training, the U.S. Department of Education gives grants to the Wings of Words camp annually. The camp is receiving two grants, totaling $300,000 over three years.

The first grant is a personnel preparatory grant, used to train the four doctoral students who work at the camp.

The second is a research grant, used to train the volunteers who come to the camp through the UA speech and hearing sciences department.

The grants also pay for the salaries of the four to five directors of the camp.

"Every person here is either a volunteer from UA, getting course credit, or getting paid," Swisher said.

The camp has about 25 volunteers for the 40 children enrolled.

Volunteer Robyn Serlin said the children have fun and learn languages at the same time.

"They associate language with enjoyable activities," Serlin said.

Roxanne Graham, a speech and hearing sciences senior, said "I think it's great for the children and a great experience for me. The kids really make it worthwhile."

The camp consists of three-hour sessions daily, which are divided into two foci. The first hour and a half is spent in a large classroom with groups of 10 to 12 children, in order to develop the children's social skills and interactions.

During this time, children paint, read, sing, and make crafts.

The other hour is spent learning tasks individually, or in groups of two, where the children work on learning new words and speech development.

In this session, research is collected on language and speech learning, novel word development and sound.

"It's wonderful for me. It's a lot of hands-on experience," said speech and hearing sciences senior Lacey Miller. "You really use what you learn in the classroom."

Swisher said the program is a mutually beneficial project.

"I think this really represents a creative crossroads - where the community needs, UA resources and a charitable organization work together," she said.

When the program began in 1989, it was limited to the school year, with finances available for about 12 children, although about 25 were enrolled.

Today, the program not only accommodates 40 children, but also can offer some scholarship money to each.

"Our dream is to have a year-round school where we serve these children and other children together," Swisher said.

This year's summer camp is full, but applications for next year's program will be considered as early as February. There is already a waiting list for next year's program.

Anyone interested can contact the Child Language Center at 620-0420 for more information.