👶 Let Your Little One Get MESSY! 🍎
It might seem counterintuitive, but letting your baby or toddler get messy during mealtimes is actually a key part of healthy feeding development!
Resist the urge to wipe their mouth constantly or scrape the spoon clean. Waiting until mealtime is over helps them:
🧠 Desensitize to different textures (squishy, slimy, sticky).
🍽️ Teach their brain that all these textures of food are okay.
Call us at 859-268-4545 if your child could benefit from feeding therapy!
11/20/2025
Today we are Thankful for the smiles from our Early Learning Center kids! ☺️
Our ELC has over 150 students, and offers Big Kid Camp during the summer! Hearing the laughter and watching them learn is such a wonderful experience! Thank you to all the parents that trust us every day with your little ones! ❤
11/19/2025
Happy National Games & Puzzles Week! 🧩🎲
Did you know that playing games isn't just fun—it's a fantastic workout for the brain? For both children and adults, games and puzzles are powerful tools that help sharpen the very skills we work on every day at HSC:
🧠 Cognitive Processing: Following complex rules and strategizing.
👂 Auditory Memory: Remembering instructions and game turns.
🗣️ Communication: Negotiation, turn-taking, and expressive language.
This week, grab a friend and a favorite game! It's a great way to boost your brain health and connect with others.
11/19/2025
This month we are celebrating 2 milestone anniversaries! Thank you Ms. Amanda and Ms. Holly for your dedication to sound beginnings.
11/17/2025
11/16/2025
Today, we are thankful for our Tiny Tots Talking program!
📝Research shows that early language exposure is directly related to a child’s language and literacy development.
Enter Tiny Tots Talking.
Founded by Ms. Shelby Rutledge in 2022, and now led by our Speech Pathologist, Ms. Hope Lange, Tiny Tots Talking provides purposeful language interactions for our ELC kiddos using:
🗣Singing
🗣Repetition of Sounds
🗣Word Repetition, focusing on the first 100 for our 0-18 month olds, and then the next 150-300 words for our 18-36 month olds.
Over 140 kids in our ELC program have benefited from TTT! We are so thankful to be able to provide this program!
11/15/2025
Happy National Philanthropy Day! 🎉
Today, we pause to celebrate the incredible generosity that fuels our mission. As a nonprofit, HSC relies on the kindness of donors like you to provide life-changing hearing and speech services to children and adults in our community.
Every gift you make—big or small—helps a child find their voice, empowers an adult to reconnect with loved ones, and ensures that financial barriers don't stand in the way of clearer communication. To support our mission, visit www.hscky.org/donate
Thank you for being a vital part of our story. Your philanthropy makes a powerful sound! 🗣️👂
11/14/2025
🖐️ Fine Motor Friday! 🖐️
Today, we're talking about the incredible importance of wrist and hand development in children!
Strong wrists and hands allow little ones to control their finger movements without fatigue. This is CRUCIAL for everyday tasks like:
✍️ Handwriting
👕 Buttoning clothes
🦷 Using a toothbrush
Simple Activities to Build Skills:
- Dot Markers: Great for targeting and controlled pressing
- Jumbo Crayons: Encourage a proper grasp without strain.
Let your child explore these fun tools to build those essential fine motor muscles!
11/13/2025
Happy World Kindness Day! 🌎
At The Hearing & Speech Center, we see every day how a simple word, a caring gesture, or the ability to connect with others through communication can change a life.
Kindness starts with how we listen and how we speak. Today, let's all make an extra effort to:
👂 Listen with patience.
🗣️ Speak with compassion.
💖 Act with an open heart.
It's amazing the ripple effect one small act of kindness can have, no matter your age!
11/12/2025
Meet Dr. Jinger Pruden
As an Audiologist here at The Hearing & Speech Center, Dr. Pruden believes that clear hearing is the foundation for a life of connection, communication, and learning—a true Sound Beginning.
Here are a few fun facts about Dr. Pruden:
Favorite Part of the Job: Building a relationship with the patient and their families, and in the process, I have the privilege to watch them reconnect to conversations and the sounds they’ve been missing and love the most.
Audiology Superpower: Counseling. I love to make my patient’s laugh, and give them a little science lesson on hearing loss. Finding a way to connect with the patient makes them feel more comfortable and educated.
When Not in the Office: I love to spend as much time as possible with my two sons. I love to exercise, cook, and be a homebody (especially in the colder months). ☺
Ready to learn more about how Dr. Pruden and our team can support your hearing healthcare journey?
Visit hscky.org or call us at (859) 268-4545
11/11/2025
Thank you, Veterans!
Did you know? Hearing-related conditions are the most common service-connected disabilities among American Veterans.
11/11/2025
Today is National Vanilla Cupcake Day! Watch HSC SLP Hope tell you how to make baking at home into a speech lesson!
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Hearing & Speech Center posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Since 1960, The Hearing & Speech Center has been committed to a mission of teaching children with hearing, speech and language impairments to listen and talk by providing them with high quality educational, therapeutic and family support services. The Hearing & Speech Center (HSC) was founded in 1960 as the Lexington Deaf Oral School and has been Central Kentucky’s leader in oral deaf education for preschool children ever since. Today, HSC’s programs offer the comprehensive educational, clinical and care services for a family dealing with hearing loss and/or speech/language delays in one location.
In 2019, HSC provided educational, hearing, and speech services to over 1,200 individuals from over 65 counties across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. HSC’s goal is for children and adults to leave HSC with the language and independence to be active participants in their community and that no one is defined by their communication delay.
The Hearing & Speech Center programs include:
1. Hearing and Hearing Aid Services for all ages (including auditory testing, middle ear evaluations, and hearing aid evaluations and consultations.) Beginning in 2018, LHSC is now able to provide Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) testing for infants.
2. Cochlear Implant Services (including audiological and speech perception assessments, pre-and post-implant training for patient and family, programming the device, and auditory-verbal therapy).
3. Speech/Language Therapy Services -including speech/language evaluations, aural (re) habilitation, Listening and Spoken Language therapies, speech/language therapy, and early intervention collaboration. In 2018, HSC began providing listening and spoken language services via tele-intervention.
4. Early Learning Center providing quality educational programming focused on teaching all children both with and without hearing or speech/language delays to listen and talk, serving children 6 weeks of age through kindergarten.
