Grant Funds Developmental Screenings for Local Children by Nazareth Students
A $50,000 grant from the Florence M. Muller Foundation is giving Nazareth College Health and Human Services students and faculty the ability to provide developmental screenings for young children during the 2019-20 school year.
The Children's Institute asked Nazareth to become a community partner for the GROW-Rochester initiative. GROW-Rochester integrates screenings for 3-year-olds to identify needs in hearing, vision, dental health, language and speech, cognitive, and social-emotional development. Early screenings are crucial for finding possible health or learning concerns, providing intervention, and increasing eventual school-readiness.
"Participating in GROW screenings will provide Nazareth students in health and human services programs with important clinical education experiences in assessment as well as an authentic experience working with an inter-professional team," said Nazareth Dean of Health and Human Services Brigid Noonan. "The GROW experience will also expand students' knowledge of the Rochester health care and education systems."
All Nazareth students in speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, creative arts therapy (art and music), social work, and nursing will conduct the screenings in hearing, vision, language, cognitive, and social-emotional development. Student teams will be joined by Nazareth faculty supervisors.
"This project uses a cross-disciplinary approach to promote the optimal healthy development of our community's children," said Patricia Leo, executive director of The Florence M. Muller Foundation. "It crosses education, health care, and child well-being — areas important to our founder and the Foundation that bears her name. We are delighted to provide the grant funding to support both the Nazareth students pursuing health and human services degrees that will benefit from this hands-on, community-based learning experience, and the young children that will benefit from the comprehensive screenings the students will conduct."
For More Information
Julie Long | Chief PR Officer | 585-389-2456 or jlong2@naz.edu
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