St. Rita Comprehensive Communication Resources (SRCCR) is a start-up 501(c)(3) Ohio corporation begun on May 24, 2010. SRCCR is affiliated with St. Rita School for the Deaf and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Since 2002 the school has been educating students with apraxia along with deaf students, both of whom have speech impairments. SRCCR receives phone calls from parents around the country asking what can be done for a child who is recently diagnosed with apraxia, usually around the age of 3 when a speech impairment becomes prominent. The SRCCR mission is to promote the development of techniques and materials for the education of students with speech impairment by collaborating with university communities and medical centers in order to promote research into the best practices for overcoming these learning hurdles.
In collaboration with Xavier University, Dr. Kathy Winterman has been hired to guide the documentation and development of the curriculum being used by the staff so that the curriculum could be marketed to others who desire to educate students with apraxia. The goal is for SRCCR to become a national resource center for the education of children with communication disorders. Three objectives have been identified. (1) The development of educational resources for both public and private schools as well as home school resources for parents. (2) The presentation of an annual conference for educators to learn about the methodology. (3) Consulting with interested parties concerning the possibility of implementing similar programs in other areas. Other events being considered include a discovery camp for children and their families in which parents can meet others from around the country, children can explore and develop social skills, and parents can understand the basis of the curriculum being used at St. Rita School for the Deaf. A Saturday intervention program is being planned to help students who cannot attend St. Rita School for the Deaf during the week.
Students with apraxia require a unique educational setting in order to improve their academic achievement. These students have difficulty in a traditional educational institution with the standard means of communication, speech and hand writing, because of incomplete neurological/motor pathways. At St. Rita, these students learn to voice, sign, and use a personal computer laptop to communicate.
St. Rita CCR gratefully acknowledges grants from the Harold C. Schott Foundation, Toyota, and The Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF).
Please click here for information about the GCF grant
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