It's an anniversary celebration to end all celebrations!

CASTLE, a program that teaches children who are deaf to listen and talk will host its fourth annual concert and fundraising celebration featuring Chapel Hill’s own Nomads Band on Saturday, October 13^th on The Green at Southern Village.

CASTLE is celebrating it's 10 year anniversary!

CCCDP is celebrating 20 years!

And the ever popular Nomad's Band is celebrating 50 years!

CASTLE or the “Center for the Acquisition of Spoken language Through Listening Enrichment,” is part of the UNC Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, and is a unique program that teaches children who are deaf or hard of hearing to listen and talk. CASTLE’s mission is providing a quality listening and spoken language program for children with hearing loss; empowering parents as primary teachers and advocates; training and mentoring specialists in listening and spoken language.  CASTLE trains early intervention and school professionals across North Carolina to work with children developing spoken language through listening.

The concert at Southern Village will be held outdoors on the Green from 3 to 6:30 p.m.  There will be activities for children and a silent auction to include gifts and gift certificates.  New this year will be a corn hole tournament for cash prizes. Food will be available from a variety of local establishments situated immediately adjacent to the Green or you can bring a picnic.  Children who have benefitted from CASTLE will participate through music and other performances.

The Nomads Band, known for its upbeat spirit, plays old soul, rhythm and blues, beach music and dance music from the past forty years.  The Band has itself been a Chapel Hill favorite for fifty years.  They will play three long sets starting shortly after 3 pm and ending at about 6:30.

This year’s Silent Auction features over 50 items ranging from a wine tasting party for 20 and golf packages, to handmade jewelry and crafts.  Items can be seen and bids accepted on the website, www.supportCASTLE.org.  We are also still accepting donations for the auction and sponsors for the event. Corn hole registration will also occur on the website for a discounted rate.

CASTLE is an independently funded program administered through the UNC School of Medicine.  It is a public/private partnership originally initiated with private funding and currently also supported by the North Carolina General Assembly in addition to several private foundations and families.

Program services available through CASTLE include speech and language services for children who are deaf or hard of hearing, distance therapy through the UNC REACH program, toddler classes for children 15 months to 3 years of age, a Professional Learning and Mentoring Program, and a training program for graduate and undergraduate students in deaf education and speech-language pathology programs. Training professionals and students is crucial for our state to provide appropriate services for children whose families have chosen a spoken language approach as the majority of professionals continue to be trained using a sign language/ manual approach.  More than 90% of children born with a hearing loss have parents with typical hearing and many of those parents wish for their children to learn to communicate using spoken language. With today’s advances in technology, appropriate early intervention services, and family commitment, most children who are deaf or hard of hearing can learn to listen and talk, and can be mainstreamed in school with their hearing peers. Check out our program at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsIr3qj_2FM.

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