The mission of the DuBard School for Language Disorders at The University of Southern Mississippi is to bring the gift of oral and written language to individuals with severe communication disorders through the use of the DuBard Association Method® in direct clinical services and professional training.

For many families, these children often never receive the kind of attention needed to give them the communication skills they require to function in society on their own. The gift of oral and written language is a vital link between their family, friends and community. Without these skills, children often lead defeated, unrealized lives – their real potential never reached.

Though founded in 1962, it was not until the mid-1970s that the DuBard School began to receive partial funding from the Mississippi Department of Education. Today, the DuBard School is a University-based, statewide special school providing public education to children from approximately 20 school districts in 15 counties. In 2002, the school moved into its state-of-the-art, 17,000 square-foot facility, paid for in large part (80 percent) by private contributions. The DuBard School serves 80 children in its full-time enrollment program, but there are on average 120 children waiting sometimes as long as two years to receive services. The cost to provide those services is approximately $18,500 per student, per year. Full-time enrollment services are delivered free-of-charge to our families with the Mississippi Department of Education covering only 70 percent or less of those costs. The DuBard School outclient therapy program, which is fee based, and various other services provide approximately 40 children with therapy, but an equal number of children comprise its waiting list.

The DuBard School’s professional development program provides courses in the DuBard Association Method® and other offerings. The school is a practicum site for University students majoring in speech-language pathology, audiology or deaf education. Each year, the courses also are taught to dozens of educators, speech-language pathologists, parents and reading specialists from across the country both at The University of Southern Mississippi and other sites.