For over 30 years, SpeakEasy, a CWRU program, has supported the needs of adults who are living with acquired neurogenic communication disorders (ANCD) by offering education, support, and treatment at no charge. The Department of Psychological Sciences, Communication Sciences Program at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) provides the faculty and graduate students to design and run the program and when the group meets in person the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center provides the space.

Designed and led by faculty member and speech-language pathologist Jean Nisenboum, with the assistance of graduate students working to gain clinical training experience, SpeakEasy welcomes nearly 35 people a week. The program brings together adults with ANCD’s in a space where they are supported and can express themselves by whatever means possible.  Individuals living with ANCD’s are isolated due to their communication challenges and a group like SpeakEasy fills an incredibly important need.

SpeakEasy members refer to their peers as their family. These “family” members ranged in age from 35-100! Their communications challenges may be due to strokes, head injuries, or diseases but one thing they all have in common is that they have fun working with the graduate students and forming bonds with their peers.

Your donation to SpeakEasy will allow the department to continue to offer this program which is essential to supporting community members with acquired neurogenic communication disorders and for education and training of future speech language pathologists and other medical professionals.

To donate to the SPEAKEASY program, click this link and enter the amount you would like to give. Under designation, choose “SpeakEasy” from the drop down menu. Thank you for supporting the SpeakEasy program.