Serving the Shreveport-Bossier community for 50 years

Beth Wooden, MA, CCC-SLP

Nationwide, the month of May is celebrated as National Speech-Language-Hearing Month. This platform was established by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) to raise awareness about communication disorders and its licensed members’ role in providing life-altering treatment. In 2024, this celebration takes on a special significance as LSU Health Shreveport’s Mollie E. Webb Speech and Hearing Center recognizes its 50th anniversary of providing services to our community in September.

Mollie E. Webb Speech and Hearing Center is an outpatient clinic in the School of Allied Health Professions at LSU Health Shreveport. It was established in 1974 to provide audiology and speech-language pathology services in Northwestern Louisiana. The clinic is named after Mollie Ellerbe Webb. It honors her legacy of devoting her life to the unique needs of children and adults with speech, language, swallowing and hearing difficulties. It is located at 3735 Blair Street in Shreveport.

For the past 50 years, Mollie Webb has provided an extensive range of services to clients of all ages. As an institution that values teaching, research and clinical service, the clinic’s graduate students evaluate and treat speech and language problems under the supervision of nationally certified and state-licensed speechlanguage pathology faculty.

A licensed audiologist also provides professional services through the clinic.

Clinical services at Mollie Webb can be initiated by talking to your primary care physician and referring you to the clinic. Several common reasons to need a referral to an audiologist include:

• I have trouble hearing or failed a hearing screening and need an evaluation.

• I have a lot of earwax in my ears or am experiencing discomfort.

• I am experiencing dizziness/balance problems/vertigo, or tinnitus (ringing) in the ears.

• I have been diagnosed with hearing loss and need a hearing aid or other hearing device.

• I have a hearing aid, cochlear implant or other device that needs to be programmed or repaired.

• I work in a noisy environment and need to discuss hearing protection.

There are also numerous reasons to be referred for speech-language pathology services. Some disorders treated at the clinic include aphasia, apraxia, articulation, cleft palate, dysarthria, glossectomy, head injury, hearing loss, language delay, laryngectomy, social communication, swallowing disorders, stuttering and voice disorders.

The clinic is ongoing with diagnostic evaluation and treatment. In addition to traditional individual therapy sessions, Mollie Webb also offers unique opportunities for young children to interact in small groups.

The Language Center Program is a preschool program for children between 3 and 5 years old with mild-moderate language disorders. Meeting two mornings a week, children experience focused intervention targeting language skills and social interaction while becoming accustomed to a preschool routine.

The Toddler Program gives children from 18 months to 3 years who may be late-talkers an opportunity to be in a language-rich environment and interact with peers. Participants focus on developing language, play and social interaction skills while attending two mornings a week.

The National Aphasia Association also recognizes Mollie Webb as an Aphasia Center in Northern Louisiana. Clients who have experienced a stroke or other brain injury may receive individual therapy. The clinic also facilitates a weekly Aphasia Group, which allows participants to interact socially and share their experiences while learning various compensatory strategies to support functional communication skills.

Through the generosity of relatives of the Webb family, Mollie Webb maintains stateof-the-art equipment to assist with training future clinicians, conducting research and providing clinical services. This equipment allows the clinic to offer specialized services:

• Evaluation and training for a variety of augmentative/alternative communication devices

• Voice banking services using Computerized Speech Lab (CSL) technology for ALS patients

• Visual feedback in articulation therapy using the SmartPalate and computer interface system

• Treatment of nasality problems associated with cleft palate and velopharyngeal disorders using a Nasometer for visual and auditory feedback

• Advanced hearing screening/testing capabilities with Maico tympanometry, otoacoustic emissions and audiometer devices

• Hearing aid programming using Verifit equipment

Mollie E. Webb Speech and Hearing Center is proud of its history in the Shreveport/Bossier community and looks forward to continuing to serve its patients by identifying and treating speech, language, hearing and swallowing disorders. If you suspect a child or family member may have a communication, hearing or swallowing problem, contact the clinic at (318) 813-4200 or go online to https://www.lsuhs.edu/our-schools/school-of-alliedhealth-professions/clinics/speech-hearingcenter.

Beth Wooden, MA, CCC-SLP, is a clinical instructor of communication disorders and speech-language pathologist at LSU Health Shreveport.