Harmonize for Speech, Hearing and Language Clinic

Hours of operation

• Year-round: fall, winter and summer semesters
• Thursdays: 2 to 6 p.m.
• Fridays: 8 a.m. to noon

Fees

• 30-minute session: $20
• 45-minute session: $30
• 60-minute session: $40

Referral requirements

A formal assessment with goals completed by a speech-language pathologist is required to receive treatment. Please contact clinic for more details.

The clinic reserves the rights to determine if a client is appropriate for the level of our Communicative Disorders Assistant students and staff.

Standard hearing test takes approximately 45 to 60 minutes.

Hours of operation

• Offered during the fall and summer semesters
• Wednesdays: 1 to 5 p.m.

Fees

• Free of charge

Referral requirements

• No referral required

Living with Hearing Loss workshop

• Student-led workshop overseen by an audiologist
• We are looking for participants who are 60+ who use hearing aids
• Workshop runs every Wednesday for four weeks (contact clinic for dates and times)
• Cost is $25 for all four classes (spouse/family member invited to attend at no additional charge)
• Workshop information includes:
  • How to lip read
  • Understanding your audiogram
  • Advocacy
  • Communicating effectively in group settings
  • Focusing on adjusting your hearing aids
  • Making the best use of your hearing aids
  • Exploring assistive devices (TV, phone)
  • Taking charge of your communication

The Harmonize for Speech, Hearing and Language is host to the March of Dimes Aphasia Group on Friday mornings.
This is for clients who have had a stroke and having difficulty with communication.
For more information, please visit March of Dimes

If interested in the aphasia group please contact Sophie Burke at 905.773.7758, ext. 6265

• Phone: 705.722.1561
• Fax: 705.722.1562
• Email: H4SHLclinic@georgiancollege.ca

The clinic is located in room M233 on the second floor of the Sadlon Centre for Health, Wellness and Sciences.

To get here:

• Directions to campus
• Take the elevator in the main lobby of the Sadlon Centre for Health, Wellness and Sciences to the second floor
• Exit the elevator on the left and then make an immediate right
• The clinic is located at the end of the hallway on the left-hand side

Clinic clients receive a special parking rate of $2 per hour. Here is how to access the rate:

• Park in a Reserved Clinic Client parking space in front of the Sadlon Centre for Health, Wellness and Sciences
• Go to the clinic registration desk to provide your licence plate number and to pay your fee of $2 per hour

Alternatively, you may buy an hourly or daily parking permit through the HonkMobile app. The special rate does not apply if you pay using this method.

If you do not pay for parking you will be subject to a parking ticket that is likely far more expensive than the $2 hourly rate.  Parking tickets for violations range from $20 to $300.

Harmonize for Speech, Hearing and Language history

The Communicative Disorders Assistant Clinic is generously supported by the Harmonize for Speech Fund.

This organization was established in 1977 as the fundraising project of the Ontario District Association of Chapters, SPEBSQSA, commonly known as the Barbershop Harmony Society. The fund is administered by a seven man Board of Trustees elected by the Ontario District House of Delegates. More than $5 million dollars has been raised to date and generously donated to various speech and language clinics and workshops throughout Canada.

Learn more about Harmonize for Speech. Visit Barrie County Chordsmen for information on our local chapter. 

Overview of the profession

A communication disorder is any disorder that affects an individual’s ability to comprehend, detect or apply language and speech to engage in conversation effectively with others.

Communicative Disorders Assistants (CDA’s) play an important role in the delivery of audiology and speech-language pathology services.  They are involved in the delivery and treatment of specific goals completed by a speech-language pathologist or audiologist.

CDA’s work with people of all ages from babies to adults.  They help treat many types of communication disorders including:

• Speech sounds: how we say sounds and put sounds together into words – other names for these problems are articulation or phonological disorders, apraxia of speech or dysarthria
• Language: how well we understand what we hear or read and how we use words to tell others what we are thinking – in adults, this problem may be called aphasia; they may also have trouble understanding others (receptive language), or sharing thoughts, ideas and feelings (expressive language)
• Literacy: how well we read and write – people with speech and language disorders may also have trouble reading, spelling and writing
• Social communication: how well we follow rules, like taking turns, how to talk to different people or how close to stand to someone when talking; this is also called pragmatics
• Voice: how our voices sound – we may sound hoarse, lose our voices easily, talk too loudly or through our noses, or be unable to make sounds
• Fluency: also called stuttering, is how well speech flows – someone who stutters may repeat sounds, like t-t-t-table or use “um” or “uh” or pause a lot when talking; many young children will go through a time when they stutter, but most outgrow it
• Cognitive communication: how well our minds work – problems may involve memory, attention, problem solving, organization and other thinking skills
• Feeding and swallowing: how well we suck, chew, and swallow food and liquid – a swallowing disorder may lead to poor nutrition, weight loss and other health problems; this is also called dysphagia
• Audiology: disorders of human hearing, balance and tinnitus; interpret test results of behavioural and objective measures
  

Events and fundraising

Victor Musowa Fund

Victor Musowa is a Georgian College Communicative Disorders Assistant (CDA) graduate from Belanty, Malawi. He moved back to Belanty to start a non-profit agency called Voiceless for Victor. The clinic raises awareness for speech and language services and gives children the chance to speak and hear again.

The CDA program organizes annual bake sale fundraiser with all proceeds going to Voiceless for Victor.  This year, $700 was raised to help purchase speech and language materials for the clinic .

AboutFace

AboutFace promotes and enhances positive mental and emotional well-being of individuals with facial differences and their families through social and peer support, information, educational programs and awareness. Every year in Canada more than 15,000 babies are born with a facial difference and over 50,000 Canadians will acquire a facial difference through trauma or illness.

The CDA program organizes an annual AboutFace gala with all proceeds going to:

• Reducing the amount of times a child is teased or bullied or ridiculed through AboutFace school programs
• Relieving the stress and anxiety of parents of an infant with facial differences through AboutFace Facing it Together program
• Increasing a teen’s self-esteem through AboutFace Camp Trailblazers