The speech and listening program at the Rhode Island School for the Deaf is based on the premise that students will develop confidence both as speakers and listeners. Activities are presented to build skills and develop success. The activities such as Auditory Training, Rhyming and Timing and Phrasing (noun and prepositional phrases) aim to promote each student's belief system in using speech and residual hearing.
Speech activities are also integrated into the classroom throughout the school day (e.g. language/literacy, daily conversational speech routines, and playground activities). Some children whose articulation is age appropriate are seen individually by the speech pathologist to work on specific phonemes or phonological processes.
The children enjoy repeating many of these the activities outside the speech setting. Teachers report that children say familiar rhymes during play time or on field trips. Jump rope and choosing rhymes are part of playground ritual and noun/prepositional phrases are used spontaneously in children's speech and writing. Parents also report that children enjoy doing some of the same group activities at home (e.g. saying familiar rhymes).