Back to School Experience with The Philip J. Rock Center and School
School year prep means getting the right supplies, meeting new teachers, and making new friends.
CHAT got the opportunity to support a new partner, the Philip J. Rock Center and School (PRC), with all three this past month.
PRC in Glen Ellyn is the only publicly funded residential school in the country for students who are deafblind. They service students from the state of Illinois tuition free. The students require a functional academic curriculum and are blind or visually impaired, deaf or hard of hearing, or deafblind.
CHAT SLPs began seeing PRC students in June and have been busy getting to know them. Primarily, CHAT is there to support their navigation of and communication with the world around them.
The school makes concentrated efforts to take the children on trips into the community. Recently, CHAT SLP Ms. Katie accompanied the students on a trip to Target in preparation for the upcoming school year. Ms. Katie helped the students navigate their shopping lists and buy personal hygiene items, water bottles for the classroom, and their preferred fidget objects.
As chance would have it, the cashier in the checkout line was also deaf and was excited to see the students. She was able to communicate with the staff and several of the students and was overjoyed to see them learning important life skills.
CHAT is proud to carry out our work of meeting each client where they are. We focus on their strengths to help them communicate, in their preferred method, to their families, teachers, future employers, and the world around them. This makes the world more accessible for each child, setting them up for future success.
CHAT can’t deliver life-changing speech therapy to the children who need it most without your support. As the funding landscape changes daily, your help means more now than ever. Please consider making a gift to CHAT today!
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