KIRKLAND, WA: The Lee Johnson Auto Family today announced that it is leasing office space to Listen and Talk, a specialized program helping families and their children who are deaf/hard of hearing communicate and learn through listening and spoken language. The space is located at 8244 122nd Ave NE, Kirkland, WA 98033. The building will be renovated in the spring to optimize the impact of the program’s listening and spoken language services for children with all degrees of hearing loss. Listen and Talk will open at this location in August.

“We acquired a building on Rose Hill to relocate our licensing agency, Eastside Licensing.  The building we acquired was much larger than we needed so we were on the hunt for a tenant,” Tod Johnson, President of the Lee Johnson Auto Family explains. “We found out about Listen and Talk’s needs and their mission and found it to be a perfect fit with our values.  We are excited to welcome them to the neighborhood.”

Lee Johnson is also donating remaining office furniture within the rental space to Listen and Talk.

The organization has leased space from 3 different organizations over its 24-year history.  Currently located in Seattle’s Maple Leaf neighborhood, this new location provides opportunities for Listen and Talk in the Kirkland area.

“We are excited to become part of the Kirkland community and we are grateful for this opportunity with the Lee Johnson Auto Family,” says Maura Berndsen, Executive Director at Listen and Talk. “Early services set families and their children who are deaf/hard of hearing on a path for lifelong learning.  Our new facility in Kirkland provides the space for our team to realize our vision that no child is limited by hearing loss.”

Listen and Talk provides family-centered services to children who are deaf/hard of hearing ages birth to school-age.  Their team includes master’s degreed teachers of the deaf and speech-language pathologists with specialized training in listening and spoken language development.  Listen and Talk’s pediatric audiologists hold clinical doctoral degrees and provide families support and on-site educational audiology services. Educational assistants and administrative staff round out this highly qualified team.

The organization is currently enrolling children with hearing into their Blended Classroom Program where they benefit from small class sizes, high-quality sound systems, and a language-rich environment provided by highly-qualified teaching teams.

Learn more about this move and about listen and talk at listentalk.org.

PHOTOS: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yzUT0GfvYocIdBs5lG_Uy5iwe7Nu1ViV

About Lee Johnson: Lee Johnson Auto Family has been proudly serving the community for 86 years and in addition to Chevrolet, Mazda and Kia, they recently purchased the Nissan dealership in Kirkland.

About Listen and Talk: Listen and Talk is a specialized program for young children who are deaf/hard of hearing. Its highly trained staff uses Auditory-Verbal strategies and techniques through family-centered practices.  This family coaching optimizes the impact of advanced hearing technology and empowers children to rely on listening and spoken language to communicate and learn. The non-profit has served families primarily in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties for almost 25 years.

###