Fort Buchanan celebrates the National Speech-Language-Hearing Month

Photo By David Hernandez | The Fort Buchanan Educational and Developmental Intervention Services (EDIS) provides early intervention services by doing developmental screenings to children whose parents are concerned about the child’s development. Meredith Carlson is a Coast Guard wife, whose daughter participates in the EDIS program. Soide Y. Rodriguez is a Speech Language Pathologist at the installation's EDIS.  

PUERTO RICO

05.24.2024

Courtesy Story

U.S. Army Garrison Fort Buchanan

FORT BUCHANAN, PUERTO RICO- With the intent of raising awareness about communication disorders and the role of speech-language pathologists and audiologists in providing treatment to their patients and students, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) designated May as the “National Speech-Language-Hearing Month.”

At Fort Buchanan, this celebration is important because it highlights the critical services provided by the Educational and Developmental Intervention Services (EDIS).

“We provide early intervention services by doing developmental screenings to children whose parents are concerned about the child’s development. If the child does not pass the screening, we provide developmental assessments. These tests can identify if the child has a developmental delay,” said Soide Y. Rodriguez, a Speech Language Pathologist.

According to Rodriguez, EDIS provides services to infants and toddlers (0-36 months of age) who live in Puerto Rico and are entitled to attend Department of Defense Education Activity schools in Fort Buchanan and Ramey under the Space-Required--Tuition-free category.

As an early intervention speech-language pathologist, Rodriguez provides family-centered services that empower military families by teaching them strategies to support their children’s communication development through daily routines.

“A typical session lasts one hour. It involves the parent or the guardian. We refresh what we did during the last session. We look at what strategies and what progress the child would have made during the week. We engage in something the family already identified they wanted to work on.
It could be eating, playing, always coaching the parents on how to use certain strategies to get more language out. Every session includes a moment of reflection and feedback, a time of learning for the parent as well. At the end, we devise a plan for the session,” said Rodriguez.

According to regulatory guidance, once the child reaches two years and six months of age, Speech Language Pathologists must start the transition process with the elementary school staff.

“School-based Speech-Language Pathologists provide services to children from pre-k to high school, serving a range of disorders relevant to the child’s educational needs and often highlighting language and literacy achievements of students. They collaborate with teachers to ensure the prevention, early intervention, assessment, and timely intervention of children at risk and identified with speech and language disorders are addressed,” added Rodriguez.

Meredith Carlson is a Coast Guard mother whose daughter participates in the EDIS program.

“It's going amazingly. Everyone here is nice and very helpful. They include the parents to set up goals and with the whole progress. My daughter went from saying a few words to learning sign language, and she can speak whole sentences now, “said Carlson.

While the Fort Buchanan EDIS only serves children up to 36 months, Rodriguez highlighted the need to educate all community sectors about the importance of speech, language, and hearing development.

“We want to emphasize the importance of the national speech, language, and hearing for everyone, not just children. Speech and language disorders affect people of all ages. Everyone should get their hearing tested or go to a speech and language pathologist if needed,” said Rodriguez.

If you have concerns regarding your child’s development and your child is: under three years of age, entitled to Department of Defense Education Activity schools, a dependent of an Active Duty military or Coast Guard member, call the Fort Buchanan Rodriguez Army Health Clinic early intervention program: Educational and Developmental Intervention Services (EDIS), to request services for your child: [phone] and [phone] or send an email to: [e-mail]

Speech-language services provided by EDIS are an indicator of how Fort Buchanan enables readiness by facilitating the quality of life of military families.

Fort Buchanan's mission is to serve as a readiness enhancement platform and facilitate the deployment of military personnel to any place at any time.

With an annual investment in the local economy of over $500 million, Fort Buchanan serves a diverse military community of approximately 15,000 active-duty Reserve, National Guard, Marine Corps Reserve, and Navy Reserve members.

• Date Taken: 05.24.2024
• Date Posted: 05.28.2024 16:55
• Story ID: 472372
• Location: PR