USM Gulf Park breaks ground on new facility for child communication and development disorders

LONG BEACH, Miss. (WXXV) – The University of Southern Mississippi has broken ground on Kelly Gene Cook Sr. Hall, a new facility that will expand the life-changing work of DuBard School for Language Disorders and The Children’s Center for Communication and Development.

The Children’s Center for Communication and Development provides cost-free, comprehensive early intervention therapy for young children with complex disabilities. At the same time, the DuBard School for Language Disorders is a clinical division of the Southern Miss School of Speech and Hearing Sciences. The school serves children with severe language/speech disorders, dyslexia/specific learning disabilities, and/or hearing impairments. The school also serves as a practicum site for university students majoring in speech-language pathology, audiology, or dyslexia therapy. DuBard School and The Children’s Center have collectively served more than 5,000 children since their founding. 

This groundbreaking marks the second major investment in USM’s Gulf Park campus within the same week, demonstrating the university’s commitment to supporting its satellite campuses equally with its main campus in Hattiesburg.

This new facility, named in honor of a gift from the Kelly Gene Cook Sr. Charitable Foundation, will span more than 25,000 square feet. The facility will enable both programs to mirror services provided on the Hattiesburg campus to the Gulf Coast community. The space will include specialized classrooms, therapy and observation rooms, and a multipurpose area—each carefully planned to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy, developmental language delays, and hearing impairments.