DENTON, Texas — For nearly 60 years, the University of North Texas (UNT) Speech and Hearing Center has provided essential services to individuals with speech, language, and hearing disorders across North Texas and southern Oklahoma. The center offers a variety of services in speech-language pathology and audiology, while also serving as a training ground for students enrolled in UNT’s Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology.
The center, averaging 5,000 client visits annually, provides services such as hearing aid dispensing, speech and language therapy for preschoolers, literacy intervention, and social skills therapy. According to Shannon Presley, the center’s assistant clinic director and clinical educator, the facility aims to deliver top-tier diagnostic and treatment services while ensuring excellence in student education.
Graduate students in speech-language pathology gain hands-on experience at the center, working alongside licensed and certified professionals to assess and treat a broad range of communication disorders. The center also supports families through observation areas and various support groups, fostering emotional and social connections for individuals with communication challenges.
In October, the UNT Aphasia Support Group will celebrate its 10th anniversary, while the North Texas Stuttering Support Group continues to offer a platform for individuals to share experiences and connect.
Additionally, the center has expanded its services by creating a support group for children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools, following the work of Project Communicate. This initiative, a five-year program funded by a $1.2 million U.S. Department of Education grant, focuses on improving outcomes for school-age children with autism. Led by Miriam Boesch, associate professor of special education, and co-principal investigator Katsura Aoyama, the project emphasizes collaborative training between special education teachers and speech-language pathologists.
The new AAC Connection group offers school-age children opportunities to practice communication with their peers and UNT student clinicians. Boesch noted that interdisciplinary collaboration has become a critical focus in training professionals who support students with disabilities.
Gina Robinson, a former high school teacher, now pursuing a master’s degree in speech-language pathology at UNT, highlighted her experience at the center. “UNT’s program stood out to me for its client work. I have had young clients who were nonverbal at the start of therapy, but have persevered and found their voice,” Robinson said.
For more information or to schedule an appointment, the UNT Speech and Hearing Center can be contacted at (940) 565-2262 or visited in person at 907 West Sycamore Street in Denton, Texas.