Summer Edition: Offering resources and tips to ensure uninterrupted support for students who are deaf or hard of hearing in Florida.
Resources: Preventing the Summer Slide

  • Maintaining Language-Rich Environments at Home: Check out this list of LSL activities and resources to help maintain fun, language-rich environments at home during the summer. Follow along on social media with the hashtags #ClarkeLSLTip and #ClarkeAtHome.

  • Hear from Jane Madell, pediatric audiologist, as she shares tips to help prevent children from losing listening and spoken language skills over the summer.


LSL Tip: Incorporate Auditory Memory into Summer Fun
"Auditory memory can improve with frequent practice. Encourage parents to play memory games with their child. For example, have the child memorize a certain number of items on a shopping list or give the child a list of items to spot outside the car. Older students can memorize grade level content such as the order of planets. Combining listening with memory can contribute to a student's language, vocabulary and academic development."

—Julia West, auditory therapist and itinerant teacher with Pinellas County Schools
Find a list of inclusive books and resources in English and Spanish as recommended by Shuli de la Fuente-Lau, an assistant principal in California and the content creator of Asian Lit for Kids. Follow along on social media with the hashtag #ClarkeBookClub.
Summer Programs for Students
  • Clarke Florida Summer Program (July 7-30): Clarke's four-week summer session in Jacksonville is open to children from ages two to seven. The summer program focuses on listening skills and language development to encourage continued progress at this critical juncture for spoken language development. Clarke Florida is an approved VPK-SIS provider and accepts this funding for summer program tuition. For more details, call 904.880.9001 or email florida@clarkeschools.org.


  • Central Florida Summer Sessions: Dreamplex Listening and Spoken Language Center in Orlando offers summer session for children with hearing loss ages three to five years old.

  • Summer Reading Program (birth to 15): The Florida Coalition for Spoken Language invites families of children with hearing loss to participate in the Deaf Kids Can Summer Reading Program.
Professional Development and Online Training

Bright Spot Story: Avani's LSL Journey
The pandemic presents many academic and social challenges, yet students like Avani, a high school senior and Clarke Florida alum, persist with confidence. She is enrolled in her high school's International Baccalaureate Program, a member of the National Honor Society, Hispanic Honor Society, Interact Club and participated in her high school's orchestra.

Avani will attend University of Central Florida's Honors College this fall where she will study computer science. Read more about her LSL journey.
About Us and This Newsletter
"Talking About Florida" is a quarterly newsletter produced by Clarke Florida that serves as a resource for families and professionals. The newsletter is made possible through the Bureau of Exceptional Student Education and Student Services (BEESS) Discretionary Project Auditory-Oral Education Grant.

Clarke Florida serves children and families by providing a wide range of auditory-oral services and programs through early intervention (birth-three), preschool-first grade, inclusive education settings and speech and language services with experts who focus on achieving key milestones at every stage. The auditory-oral program for children ages three to seven is in partnership with school districts in Florida and the Department of Education.

Have an event or resource to share?
Email Clarke Florida at florida@clarkeschools.org.
Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. As an IRS qualified charity, gifts to Clarke are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Clarke teaches children who are deaf or hard of hearing to listen and talk. Since our founding in 1867, we have prepared children to succeed in mainstream schools and the wider world, evolving to meet the needs of children and families today. Our teachers of the deaf, audiologists and speech-language pathologists partner with families to help their infants, toddlers and school-age children develop listening and spoken language (LSL) skills to maximize their learning. In addition to our work with more than 1,000 infants and children annually, we serve families and adults through a wide range of programs and services--in homes, at our five East Coast locations, in mainstream classrooms and using remote technology. Learn more at clarkeschools.org.

Our Work. Our Reach. Your Role: New and increased donations will go even further thanks to a partial matching grant from a generous funder.


Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech | 9803 Old St. Augustine Road #7, Jacksonville, Fl. 32257
Voice 904.880.9001 | florida@clarkeschools.org  | clarkeschools.org