Community Impact Grants 2025
Announcing Four GSHFoundation Community Impact Grant Recipients
​
We are delighted to announce the winners of the Community Impact Grants for 2025. These grants were awarded to experts in the field of speech-language pathology and audiology who, through innovation and application, promote community engagement of students and professional staff and facilitate high social impact to individuals with speech, language, cognitive, swallowing, or hearing disorders.
​
Check back in Fall 2025 for the next Community Impact Grant opportunity!
CONGRATS TO THE 2025 COMMUNITY IMPACT GRANT RECIPIENTS!
Ainsley Vergara & Beth Stewart
Ainsley Vergara & Beth Stewart
Setting the Stage for Lifelong Learning: Early Literacy Resources for Young Children and Their Families
The purpose of this project is to facilitate high social impact for children at risk for hearing and language disorders while promoting community engagement of speech-language pathology (SLP) students. The award will support us in providing supervised, no-cost school-based screenings and supervised, low-cost comprehensive diagnostic evaluations for children at risk for hearing and/or language disorders. The project’s impact is twofold: it will enable efficient identification of children with hearing and/or language disorders and it will prepare future SLPs to implement best practices for assessment in hearing screening and language diagnostics.​
Three Impacts:
-
Families will gain practical strategies to foster language-rich interactions, helping children build vocabulary, comprehension, and communication skills.
-
100 children will receive grade-level books, visual supports, and guides that make reading an engaging, interactive activity at home.
-
Through family use of strategies provided in the workshops and caregiver guides, children will develop stronger language foundations to enhance long-term academic success.
This project supports language and literacy development in Athens, GA. Local families will receive kits containing books, low-tech AAC boards, and guides for interactive reading. Workshops will equip caregivers with strategies to make reading an engaging, interactive family activity, empowering them to support their child’s language development and set the stage for lifelong learning!
_edited.jpg)
Laura Abercrombie & Matt Carter
Valdosta State University Sensory Safe Environment
The Valdosta State University Speech and Hearing Clinic is developing a sensory room that will enhance access to high-quality, evidence-based intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder and other related conditions. This new space will provide a calming, individualized environment that supports sensory regulation, allowing clients to engage in speech, language, and feeding services more effectively. The sensory room will also serve as a crucial training tool for VSU's speech-language pathology graduate students, equipping them with the skills needed to provide neuro-affirming care and positively impact communities across Georgia.
​
​
Laura Abercrombie & Matt Carter
Dr. Levi Ofoe & Jenny Gordon
An efficient and effective feeding/swallowing system forms the cornerstone of cognitive, speech, and language development.
Dr. Levi Ofoe & Jenny Gordon
Comprehensive Screening of Pediatric Feeding Disorders
This project aims to guide graduate speech-language pathology students in screening for feeding disorders in pre-kindergarten children at the Early Learning Center in Carroll County. Clinical supervisors will train students to conduct pediatric feeding screenings. This project will be completed in two phases: First, parents will complete standardized feeding questionnaires about their child’s eating behaviors. Second, the students will use age-appropriate foods to directly assess the children’s oral-motor control, feeding, and swallowing skills. The students will then compare parent-report information and their observations to inform clinical knowledge and provide evidence-based guidance to help parents with early intervention. Our goal is to extend the program to other early learning centers in the county and beyond.​
​
Three Impacts:
-
Train graduate speech-language pathology students to conduct comprehensive feeding screenings (i.e., parent reports and direct observations) in pre-kindergarten children.
-
Improve early detection and intervention mechanisms for feeding disorders in young children.
-
Increase awareness and empower local families with the knowledge and resources needed to seek timely professional support for atypical feeding behaviors, foster healthier families and communities, and potentially reduce the burden on healthcare systems.
Hannah Krimm & Dr. Alison Morrison
Hannah Krimm and Dr. Alison Morrison
Hearing and Language Assessment for School-Age Children
The purpose of this project is to facilitate high social impact for children at risk for hearing and language disorders while promoting community engagement of speech-language pathology (SLP) students. The award will support us in providing supervised, no-cost school-based screenings and supervised, low-cost comprehensive diagnostic evaluations for children at risk for hearing and/or language disorders. The project’s impact is twofold: it will enable efficient identification of children with hearing and/or language disorders and it will prepare future SLPs to implement best practices for assessment in hearing screening and language diagnostics.
​
Three Impacts:
-
Provide no-cost hearing and language screening for elementary school children.
-
Provide low-cost comprehensive diagnostic evaluations for children identified through screenings as at-risk for hearing loss and/or language disorders.
-
Improve future SLPs’ ability to implement best practices for screening and comprehensive diagnostic evaluation.
