FSU School of Communication Science and Disorders is building a state of the art learning environment that will serve our community. We are so excited to envision and prepare for a future playground outside the Warren building at Florida State University. We are so fortunate to have had playground equipment donated! Now we just need your help to lay the foundation and fencing to raise a playground to provide the context and opportunities for PLAY!

With a playground at Warren, we will be able to address early learning with evidence-based practice. Students in speech-language pathology will practice implementing what we know works in early learning, communication, social aspects, education, and family centered learning.

Decades of research tell us that play provides children with a foundation for learning language, literacy, and social and emotional skills that last a lifetime. High quality play helps children grow their minds, their vocabularies, and they help build friendships that teach critical skills like problem-solving, turn taking, and self-regulation. High quality playgrounds are also inclusive- they create a place for all children to learn, with and without disabilities.

To meet the community's needs for an inclusive, high quality preschool and playground we are drawing on the virtues and vision that define us at Florida State University- inclusive, diverse, transformative, and interdisciplinary. We invite you to join in creating a preschool playground that offers high quality early learning experiences for our children and meaningful training experiences for our FSU students.  Through the preschool playground we will be able to expand interdisciplinary education for our undergraduate and graduate students.  Learning alongside students training to be special and general education teachers, physical therapists, psychologists, occupational therapists will provide robust learning experiences for all students. 

The proposed preschool playground also holds promise for research endeavors.  Many of our faculty study child speech and language development and disorders – having a community-based resource like this preschool playground right outside Warren offers exciting new research possibilities.  

The preschool playground will provide a context to build capacity for the transfer of knowledge between research and high quality clinical services.

Now, we ask for your help to lay the foundation.