California Scottish Rite Foundation gift expands speech, language and hearing opportunities at SFSU

Thanks to a generous gift by the California Scottish Rite Foundation, San Francisco State University Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences (SLHS) students and community members will benefit from additional clinical opportunities to offer expanded children's language programming and services in the near future.

The funding allows SFSU to expand clinical training opportunities for students seeking graduate degrees in speech and language therapy while providing community members who seek help for diagnosis and therapy for speech, language, and hearing disabilities more opportunities for services. The gift to SFSU is in keeping with the Scottish Rite Foundation’s longstanding mission to assist children in with speech-language, literacy and education programs for a lifetime of improved communication and confidence.

SFSU offers services through its Nicholas Certo Speech, Language and Hearing (SLH) Clinic, an educational and training facility for SFSU master's level clinicians preparing to enter the profession of speech-language therapy. All diagnostic and therapy services at the clinic are offered by appointment and are performed under the direct supervision of state-licensed and American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)-certified faculty free of charge to the public.

Many such clinics and centers are funded by the Scottish Rite Foundation and operated in collaboration with California State University institutions. The Foundation currently has 19 such centers in California under the RiteCare name, up from 14 centers just a few years ago.

SFSU graduate students provide screenings, diagnostic evaluations, and therapeutic services to infants, toddlers, children, adolescents, and adults with various challenges of speech, language and hearing. Included are services to support the use of Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) for individuals with developmental and motor speech disabilities. One of the world’s most famous examples is that of the late Stephen Hawking, theoretical astrophysicist, who used a specialized computer system operated by a single cheek muscle and detected by an infrared sensor on his glasses.

The new funding marks a return of the Scottish Rite Foundation’s support of SFSU in the field of language and speech therapy, according to Scottish Rite Foundation President Arthur Salazar Jr.

“There’s a lot of need for speech-language therapy and audiology services and there is a shortage of programs to meet the needs of the state,” said SFSU Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Chair and Professor Betty Yu. “One of the things we’re really looking forward to do is expand programs to enroll more students and graduate more practitioners.”

“There’s a lot of need for speech-language therapy and audiology services and there is a shortage of programs to meet the needs of the state. One of the things we’re really looking forward to do is expand programs to enroll more students and graduate more practitioners.” 

—Professor Betty Yu, SFSU Chair of the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences 

To that end, Yu says the department is planning on hiring a clinical coordinator to oversee additional students, certifying that they achieve the 400 clinical hours needed to meet their graduation and licensing requirements by SFSU and the state of California.

“We have a long waiting list,” Yu says. “A lot of families are hoping to get served by us, so we’re really looking forward to the capacity expansion.”

First-year SLHS graduate student Mariana Eggleston, who hopes to work in a hospital-based specialized setting, particularly with craniofacial clefts, acute care, trauma, atypical and rare diseases, and/or research, agrees. “Even just the opportunity to receive assessment for free can allow children to qualify for insurance coverage they may not have attained otherwise,” she says. “Treatment is also given and short-term goals allow parents to know how to focus their efforts. Donations can help us provide more therapy to even more families while also creating opportunities for growth within our clinics through access to better tools and resources.”

Fellow SLHS student Sadie North worked with Eggleston on a recent case, providing assessment and care to an infant with mutations to gene SCN8A, a rare genetic neurological disorder that has seen fewer than 700 patients worldwide. The young patient has responded positively to treatment,

“Her parents have helped us to choose goals and treatments that align with prioritizing her health and future development, and have done great work advocating for her,” says North, who hopes to work in an acute or skilled nursing setting with primarily geriatric populations. “The clinic has given her the space to improve dramatically and given us the chance to learn from and with her along the way.”

“The clinic has given her the space to improve dramatically and given us the chance to learn from and with her along the way.”

—SLHS student Sadie North about a young patient

Other enhancements that the Scottish Rite Foundation gift will enable include a possible speech-language therapy assistant training program for undergraduate students and a peer mentorship program in which students could get paid for tutoring other SLHS students.

“Students are always looking for opportunities to earn money that doesn't pull them away from their academics, and these mentorships are a really nice way to do that,” Yu says.

For Salazar, the Scottish Rite Foundation gift to SFSU represents not only an opportunity to provide needed speech-language services to those in need but it could serve as a springboard to something greater.

“The reality is a lot of the families that come to these services don't have the resources. We're talking about families that don't necessarily have college in their background,” Salazar says. “These kids now are getting treatment for speech therapy on a college campus. It's my hope that over the years as they get older and they work through their speech challenges and they get the confidence that they need to succeed in life, that when that day comes when they're applying for college, it won't seem so scary. They're going to remember that they used to go to this campus when they were younger and that they have a place on this campus and going to college will seem normal to them. They won't seem like it’s something new and scary.”

The Nicholas Certo Speech, Language and Hearing (SLH) Clinic relies on the support of its friends, clients and family members to help provide this vital service to the community. You can make a gift online using the Graduate College of Education online donation form and select Nicholas Certo Memorial Clinic in the drop-down menu.