Faculty, student and staff volunteers from The University of Texas at Dallas’ Callier Center for Communication Disorders will conduct hearing screenings for hundreds of participants in the 2007 Special Olympics Texas summer games. The games, which provide opportunities for individuals with intellectual disabilities to engage in athletic training and competition, will be held on the campus of The University of Texas at Arlington May 24-27.
The Callier Center is provider of the audiological component of the Special Olympics “Healthy Athletes” program. Because hearing needs are often overlooked in this special population, volunteers from Callier, who number more than 30, will staff an exam area throughout the games to conduct free hearing tests and inform the athletes and their coaches of the results. Athletes may also undergo vision and physical fitness testing available from other providers.
Among the Callier volunteers will be audiologists, audiology professors and graduate students and staff members.
Some 2,800 athletes from around the state are expected to take part in the 2007 summer games. Additional information about the games is available at the Special Olympics Texas website, http://www.sotx.org/.
The Callier Center, with locations in Dallas and on the UT Dallas campus in Richardson, is one of the nation’s preeminent educational, research and treatment centers focused on communication and communication disorders. The center is part of the university’s School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
Contact Jenni Huffenberger, UT Dallas, (972) 883-4431, jennib@utdallas.edu