Where Play Becomes Progress: Celebrating Lauren Gius

For Speech-Language Pathologist Lauren Gius, the best sessions are the ones children remember as play and families see as growth.

Every session in Lauren Gius’s speech room is built on a plan and a clear set of goals. What few people get to see is how those goals come to life: through “the laughter and joy that happens in my speech room.” As a Speech-Language Pathologist at the CCHAT Center, Lauren has spent eight years helping children who are deaf and hard of hearing build listening and spoken language skills, pairing purposeful goals with joyful sessions. Today, she also serves as the Family Navigator for CCHAT’s Early Hearing Access & Family Navigation Program, helping families get their children the hearing technology they need.

A Journey Rooted in Purpose 

Lauren's connection to this work began long before her career did. "My aunt was a sign language interpreter, so I had been around the Deaf community my whole life," she shares.

While earning her master's degree at San Jose State University, she applied for a grant to work with students who are deaf and hard of hearing. The grant's focus was listening and spoken language, and it changed her perspective.

"It opened my eyes to an entirely different part of the Deaf community I wasn't aware of," Lauren says. "It sparked my love for the technology, the kids and the experiences."

That path led her to listening and spoken language training and to what she calls a “life-changing opportunity” to work at CCHAT as a graduate student. The experience left such an impression that she returned as a member of the staff, and today she works alongside the same team that helped shape her early training. In her words, “I am so lucky to be a part of this team.”

Guiding Families Through the Navigator Program

Lauren’s care for families also reaches beyond her speech room. She was chosen to serve as the Family Navigator for CCHAT’s Early Hearing Access & Family Navigation Program, which helps families of children who are deaf and hard of hearing overcome barriers such as cost, insurance, travel, and complex paperwork, so their children can get hearing aids and early intervention without delay.

“Lauren was chosen as the program’s Family Navigator due to her attention to detail, care and commitment to families, and specialized expertise with supporting children who are deaf and hard of hearing,” says Ronda Rufsvold, PhD, Executive Director of CCHAT. Lauren contacts each family within 72 hours of their first call, identifies what they need, and guides them through every step. The result, in Ronda’s words, is “the child receiving hearing aids from our expert audiology team with no cost to the family.”

Making Hard Work Feel Like Play

Speech and listening practice takes real effort, and Lauren's gift is making that effort feel natural. On any given day, her students might play a board game built around speech sounds, go on a scavenger hunt around the school to practice auditory skills, or head outside for a coordinated game that builds social skills.

"The kids work so hard, but I try to make it not seem like work," Lauren explains. "If they leave my room and just say that they played, then I did my job right. Because to them they played, but to me they worked really hard on all their goals without it feeling like 'work'."

A Day Full of Little Wins

Lauren's days are, as she puts it, "busy, busy, busy." She works with students throughout the day, and through CCHAT's medical partnership, she also works with pediatric and adult clients for aural rehabilitation, sometimes before the school day begins and after it ends.

What keeps her going is progress she can see and hear. “Every day there are little wins,” she says. For Lauren, those wins look like a student saying a word they couldn’t say before, or becoming more confident with their equipment. Relationships matter to her, too: “I also love that due to the intensity of our program, we really get to know the students and their families.”

A Moment That Matters

Some wins stay with Lauren for a long time. She has worked for three years with one student who had complex communication difficulties and found it hard to produce sounds without articulation errors. One day, that student told Lauren she was making friends outside of school in jiu-jitsu, and that they were able to understand everything she said.

"It was hard not to get emotional and be so proud of how far she had come," Lauren remembers.

Partnering With Families and Preparing for What's Next

Lauren keeps families close to the work happening in her speech room. She sends home weekly speech notes that detail the goals students worked on, the games they played, and suggestions for practice at home. Families also receive formal progress notes three times a year, and an annual Individualized Education Planning meeting brings everyone together to review goals and services.

Lauren typically works with students in the Kindergarten/Primary classroom, so she often helps children prepare for the next step in their academic journey. As the school year ends and transitions loom, she talks with students about what a new school might look like and increases her focus on auditory and self-help skills. In the past, she has even helped students create PowerPoint presentations about their own hearing journeys, including why they may wear hearing aids, cochlear implants, or Bone-Anchored Hearing Aids.

A Lasting Impact on the CCHAT Community

Lauren wears many hats at CCHAT, and each one reflects what CCHAT is all about: listening and spoken language, built through steady practice, joyful learning, and true partnership with families. In her speech room, every game has a purpose, and every little win adds up to children who communicate with more confidence in the classroom and beyond. Through CCHAT’s medical partnerships, she brings that same expertise to pediatric and adult clients in aural rehabilitation. And as the Family Navigator for the Navigator Program, she helps families clear the hurdles between a diagnosis and hearing aids for their child, so no time is lost during a critical period for listening and language development.

We are so grateful for Lauren's journey, and for the laughter, care, and expertise she brings to our students every day. To learn more about how CCHAT supports children who are deaf and hard of hearing and their families, explore our programs. And to get to know the teachers, therapists, staff, students, and families who make up our community, read more of our highlights. Each one offers a closer look at the people behind the progress your child sees every day.

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