CDS Head Start Program

During the Spring 2026 semester, our graduate SLP program partnered with Buffalo Promise Neighborhood Children’s Academy—an early childhood education center participating in the federally funded Head Start program—to implement a Speech-Language and Early Literacy Enrichment Pilot Program!

Supervised by SLP Jacqueline Vignanello, graduate SLP clinicians worked with children in small groups of engaging, theme-based activities to support communication and early literacy development.

The pilot program delivered targeted speech-language and early literacy support to three- and four-year-old children, grounded in a preventative, early intervention framework aimed at reducing the need for Committee on Preschool Special Education (CPSE) referrals and promoting emergent literacy development prior to school entry.

Thank you to Buffalo Promise Neighborhood Children’s Academy for partnering with our students in delivering speech-language and early literacy support through the pilot program!

UB SLP Students featured left to right: Marissa Belmonte, Annie Jarvis, Drishti Chudasama, and Moira Griffin posing with hand puppets, children’s book, and therapy timer at Buffalo Promise Neighborhood Children’s Academy.