1/11/10

• Just so you know: We are presently accepting applications for enrollment in the Early Learning Center for January—we do have a limited number of places available. Please tell everyone you know who has preschoolers!
• Our Birth toThree team has been holding great monthly Parent-Tot Group meetings for families, alternating between daytime and evening meetings. In November, the meeting was all about Toys and Games. The evening meeting on December 16th (5:30-7:00 pm) was entitled “So Many Books!” and was led by Tina Berghoff, our Little Kid Book-Reading Expert (all right, one of them!).
• On December 1st, Dr. Elizabeth Cole and Maura McGuire went to a Wethersfield “Holiday Social and Salute to Business” reception at the Wethersfield Country Club to accept a Special Recognition award for CREC Soundbridge from the Wethersfield Economic Development and Improvement Commission. The award was given in recognition of our building expansion, as an economic development initiative.
• On December 16th, the 7th and 8th graders at Silas Deane Middle School invited the 6th graders to join them for a “Girl Power” event, which they are having at SDMS. This was a lunch social-fun event for the girls, led by Melissa Dennis.
• The Elementary Academy Parent/Child meeting held on December 3rd was a great success, with nearly all of the children and families present (brothers and sisters, too). Jan Jennings had spent months (it must have been!) cooking gingerbread cookies for all of the children to decorate, which they did with much enthusiasm—assisted by their parents, as well as by Jan, Dianne Quinn, and Pam Mycka. Cookie decorating was followed by pizza, and then the groups split up to have movies and fun for the children (again, expedited by Jan, Dianne, and Pam), and a discussion of Raising Reasonable Expectations for the parents with Mary Ann Dayton-Fitzgerald. All in all, a terrific evening!
• Rhonda Sousa, Cathy St. Laurent, Susan Piescik and Elaine Carroll attended Oticon’s Pediatric Seminar on 12/2/09 in Cromwell to learn about the new pediatric hearing aid “Safari”. The “Safari” is the only hearing aid on the market that is designed specifically for pediatrics. It has an extended bandwidth and more “connectivity” options for children so that they can use their hearing aids with Ipods, cell phones, etc.
• Oticon representatives, including an engineer from Denmark, came to Soundbridge on 11/24 to meet with the audiology department. Oticon wanted our input regarding their personal FM system and future developments.
• Dr. Terry Yanaway and Raisa Usifer will be supervising and sharing their knowledge and expertise with doctoral and graduate students from the University of Connecticut during the spring semester. 
• Soundbridge and Hear Here Hartford Seniors have begun to receive college acceptance letters from schools such as: CCRI – Community College of Rhode Island, Johnson and Wales, & Mitchell College.  Congrats to the students on their acceptances!
• HHH had a wonderful party at the Glastonbury Community Center and many of our high school students, former students, as well as one middle school student attended. There was lots of food, fun, and music. Parents and staff from Soundbridge that attended also enjoyed themselves. It was a great way to get into the holiday spirit! Thanks to Terry Bedard and the Board of HHH for making this event such a success.
• The juniors and seniors have visited Porter and Chester as part of their Transition and Language classes. Su Emmens, Sarah Parker, and Katey
  Welch have been working with all the students to research post-secondary
  options and create questions for their visits.
• The Soundbridge ELC had its 3rd Annual Thanksgiving day parade just before Thanksgiving to celebrate the season of giving. Three floats were
  marched through the halls of the Early Learning center to the delight of
  parents and staff. ELC students sang festive songs and were adorned with
  feathers, hats and other seasonal costume.
• The eighth graders under the direction of Susan Wiszniak took a backstage tour of the Bushnell to develop the students understanding of some of the
  career options open to them if they are interested in art, hair styling, and
  make up. The staff at the Bushnell was very generous with their time.
• The Early Learning Center will be taking a field trip to Bel Air Manor nursing home in Newington on December 22nd, to sing holiday songs for the residents. Surely this will bring smiles to all who participate!
• On Friday, December 11th, Soundbridge hosted a celebration of the three years of partnership between the University of Hartford and CREC Soundbridge in providing the graduate program, Aural Habilitation and Education of Hearing-Impaired Children. The event was very well attended, the program went beautifully, the food was delicious (thanks to Polaris Catering Service)! Bruce Douglas, George Dowaliby, Jackie Wasta, and John Purdy all attended—as did Dr. Walter Harrison (President of the University of Hartford), Dr. Ralph Mueller (Dean of the College of Education, Nursing, Health Professions), Drs. Joan Pedro and Janet Gangaway (both Associate Deans), Marlene Hall (Assistant Dean, College of ENHP), Dr. Frederick King (Chair of the Department of Education and Health Professions); Dr. Dorothy Zeiser, (former Dean of the College of ENHP); Dr. Marietta Paterson (Director of the program in Aural Habilitation and Education of Hearing-Impaired Children), Kathleen Hayden (Executive Assistant to the Dean of the College of ENHP), Renee Murphy (Graduate and Adult Academic Services), and Louise Melanson (Assistant to the Counsel of the University).  Graduates of the program, as well as the present students in the program also attended. A film about CREC Soundbridge, with an additional 2 minutes added expressing appreciation to the University of Hartford, was shown. Following the film, which clearly moved a number of the viewers, Dr. Douglas gave a beautiful talk and presented a plaque to Dr. Harrison, who then also spoke. It was a great and fitting, celebration.

The Soundbridge audiology department put on a day of professional development for Soundbridge teaching staff on September 18th. The event was entitled, Audiology: Reaching Up and Reaching Out, and provided a concentrated update, as well as practical experience on a variety of topics of essential importance to professionals working with children who have hearing loss.

Melissa Dennis, Counselor, and Maura McGuire, Assistant Director, attended the Connecticut Chapter of the Division on Career Development and Transition at SERC on September 23rd. The purpose of the group is to provide members with a forum for brainstorming and sharing resources, and increasing collaboration amongst groups interested in post-secondary transition. Ms. McGuire also attended a Workforce Alliance meeting on September 22nd, where Ted Kennedy, Jr.’s keynote topic was “attaining competitive employment for all with disabilities.” Ms. McGuire was able to speak to several individuals who expressed interest in working with us regarding work internships for our secondary students.

Diane Nelson, Team Leader for the Educational Consultants for Listening and Spoken Language, will be presenting a SERC workshop on October 27th, entitled Introduction to Educating Students with Hearing Loss with a teacher from the American School for the Deaf. In addition, on November 10th Diane will be presenting at the Crowne Plaza Hartford as part of an all day conference entitled Contributing to Student Success. Her presentation is called The Deaf Education Team in the Mainstream School Setting.

Two Soundbridge Early Learning Center teachers, Julie Lacava and Kristen Levesque, attended Raising Readers: Parent Club Facilitator Trainings at CREC Coltsville. This two-day training session certified both Julie and Kristen to facilitate a Raising Readers Parent Reading Club at Soundbridge. Both had many positive things to say about the program and received a stack of free books to use at the club meetings.

Our secondary students put on a car wash on September 12th, at which (despite the mist), they made $75.00 for Soundbridge! This was done in conjunction with Hear Here Hartford members and was supported by many of our staff including Katey Welch, Sarah Parker, Su Emmens, Elizabeth Cole, Kelly O’Connell, and Maura McGuire. Thanks also to Kelly Clark who obtained a donation of green car cleaner from Rovac.

The Soundbridge Academy students at the elementary level are enjoying their new school this fall. We are now housed in Wethersfield’s Webb Elementary School (after 19 years in Emerson Williams), and everyone seems to have made the move quite smoothly, thanks to the help of the teachers and the custodial staff. Soundbridge teachers and students have been made to feel very welcome, and the children are really looking forward to the arrival of the ducks who take up residence in the courtyard at Webb every year.

The new Early Learning Center library has been set up and is a beautiful, inviting, kid-friendly space that encourages a love of reading and story sharing. The library is so attractive to young readers.