FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Words Put in Mouths of Young

Four-year-old Ciara Neice sat on a chair next to her teacher, Gina Nimmo, holding her doll, Ashley.

“Say, ‘My ba-by,” Nimmo told the girl.

“My ba-by,” Ciara answered.

“Perfect!” her teacher said.

Nimmo is a speech-language pathologist who works with children in the Fountain Valley School District who have communication and speech disorders.

A 15-year speech and language teacher, Nimmo coordinates the district’s program for special needs of infants and preschool children up to the age of 5.

The program is held at William T. Newland School in Huntington Beach to aid children who may suffer from hearing loss, stuttering, language delays, or articulation and voice disorders.

John Traylor of Huntington Beach said his daughter, Christina, 4, has made remarkable improvement in her speech and communication skills since she started the program a few months ago.

Traylor said his daughter was enrolled in the program because of her inability to communicate and interact with children her own age.

Traylor said the program “gives her a head start on her future education.”

Nimmo said 40 children are enrolled in her special education program.

“We’re doing intervention, preparing them for the regular classroom,” said Ann Holmberg, a district psychologist, who helps assess the special needs of children and their families.

Some children may be assessed through a team approach, which includes evaluations from Nimmo as well as Holmberg and a district nurse, Yvonne Kakazu, to determine which services are necessary to meet the child’s needs.

Children may be enrolled in the district’s program or other appropriate programs within the West Orange County Consortium on Special Education, a network of neighboring school districts, Holmberg said.

Nimmo, 51, said the goal of the program is to correct speech and language disorders before the child enters the public school system.

“We do feel that early intervention has very positive rewards--academically and socially,” she said.

And Nimmo said she, too, reaps rewards by helping children overcome their disabilities.

“I do enjoy seeing the changes in the child,” she said. “It’s amazing how excited you get with the smallest changes . . . but it’s leaps for us. That in itself is rewarding.”

Outside the classroom, Nimmo has found that being involved in professional organizations plays a key role in classroom successes.

Nimmo is a member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Assn., and recently received recognition for her contributions to the group. She is a member of the association’s Ad Hoc Committee on Service Delivery in the Schools.

The committee aids in developing guidelines, position statements and reports to guide the professions of audiology and speech-language pathology and to maintain the highest standards of practice.

Nimmo has written papers on topics that include the definitions of communication disorders and guidelines for audiology services in schools.

While it takes extra time to be involved in the organization, Nimmo said that helping to set guidelines and lend expertise benefits the students with speech and language disorders in the long run.

“Hopefully we can make changes so they can achieve success (in school) instead of academic or social failure,” Nimmo said.