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VOICES
A l e x a n d e r G r a h a m B e l l A s s o c i at i o n f o r t h e D e a f a n d Ha r d o f H e a r i n g
O
L
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November/December 2013
Strategies for
Career Success
Volume 20, Issue 6
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November/December 2013
ISSUE 6
24
VOICES
V
VOLU M E 2 0
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28
36
Departments
Features
Voices from AG Bell
7Advancing Listening and Spoken
Language for Individuals Who Are
Deaf and Hard of Hearing
11Loud and Clear
12To the Editor
20
Tips for Parents
42 Using Creativity and Arts
for Language Development
Hear Our Voices
44 Beauty in Every Obstacle
Up Front on the Back Page
60 Carrie Spangler, Au.D., CCC-A
In Every Issue
voices Contributors
16
Soundbites
46
Directory of Services
59
List of Advertisers
“Lean In” to a Promotion
By Pauline T. Newton, Ph.D.
Read about getting a promotion at work with hearing loss.
24
Developing Speech Skills for Children
Who Come Late to Listening or Have Other
Special Needs
By Christina Perigoe, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, CED, LSLS Cert. AVT
Daniel Ling’s legacy can help children with hearing loss who are
“late starters” or have additional special needs develop listening and spoken language.
28
Trading Signals: My Decision to Go Bilateral with Cochlear Implants
By Samuel R. Atcherson, Ph.D.
Read about considerations for bilateral cochlear implants and life
with bilateral electric hearing.
VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL
32
Señales de operación: Mi decisión para
colocarme implantes cocleares bilaterales
Por Samuel R. Atcherson, Ph.D.
4 Want to Write for Volta Voices?
15
40
36
LOFT in Action: Voices of Leadership
By Anna Karkovska McGlew, M.A., and Wendy Will
2013 LOFT participants developed and facilitated a two-and-halfhour “Teens & Tweens” program for middle school students who are
deaf and hard of hearing and their parents.
40
Ken Levinson: The LOFT Counselor Perspective
Interview by Christina Perigoe, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, CED, LSLS Cert. AVT
Ken Levinson, the lead counselor and co-founder of LOFT, provides an historical perspective on the program and his thoughts
on its impact and future.
Alex ander
Graham
Bell
A s s o c i a t i o n f o r t h e D e a f a n d Ha r d o f H e a r i n g
3417 volta pl ace, nw, was hington, dc 20 0 07 • w w w.li s tening and s pokenl anguage.org
V
O
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A
VOICES
Advancing Listening and
Spoken Language for Individuals
Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing
— Adopted by the Alexander Graham Bell Association
for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Board of Directors, July 2013
Ale x ander Gr aham Bell
As sociation for the Deaf
and Hard of Hearing
3417 Volta Place, NW, Washington, DC 20007
ListeningandSpokenLanguage.org
voice 202.337.5220
tty 202.337.5221 | fax 202.337.8314
Volta Voices Staff
Director of Communications and Marketing
Susan Boswell, CAE
Editor
Anna Karkovska McGlew
Advertising, Exhibit and
Sponsorship Sales
The Townsend Group
Design and Layout
EEI Communications
AG Bell Board of Directors
President
Donald M. Goldberg, Ph.D.,
LSLS Cert. AVT (OH)
President-Elect
Meredith Knueve Sugar, Esq. (OH)
Immediate Past President
Kathleen S. Treni (NJ)
Secretary-Treasurer
Ted Meyer, M.D., Ph.D. (SC)
Interim Executive Director/CEO
Judy Harrison (DC)
Joni Y. Alberg, Ph.D. (NC)
Corrine Altman (NV)
Rachel Arfa, Esq. (IL)
Jonathan Berger, Esq. (NY)
Evan Brunell (MA)
Wendy Deters, M.S.,
CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVEd (IL)
Kevin Franck, Ph.D., MBA, CCC-A (MA)
Susan Lenihan, Ph.D., CED (MO)
Catharine McNally (VA)
Lyn Robertson, Ph.D. (OH)
Want to Write for Volta
Voices?
Volta Voices?
Submissions to Volta Voices
Volta Voices welcomes submissions from
both AG Bell members and nonmembers.
The magazine is published six times
annually. Its audience consists of individuals
who are deaf or hard of hearing, parents
of children who are deaf or hard of hearing
and professionals in fields related to
hearing loss (audiology, speech-language
pathology, psychology, otology, social
services, education).
Visit the Volta Voices page at
for submission guidelines and to
submit content.
Subjects of Interest
nTechnology – related to hearing loss,
new technology, improvements to or
problems with existing technology, or
how people are using existing technology,
accommodations.
nEducation – related to public or private
schools through post-secondary education,
new approaches and teaching methods,
legal implications and issues, etc.
nAdvocacy – information on legislation,
hearing health, special or mainstream
education, and accessibility.
nHealth – audiology issues relating to
children or adults with hearing loss and/or
their families and friends.
nAction – stories about people with hearing
loss who use spoken language as their
primary mode of communication; deafness
need not be the focal point of the article.
Editorial Guidelines
The periodicals department reserves the
right to edit material to fit the style and tone
of Volta Voices and the space available.
Articles are selected on a space-available
and relevancy basis; submission of materials
is not a guarantee of use.
Transfer of Copyright
The revised copyright law, which went into
effect in January 1978, provides that from
the time a manuscript is written, statutory
copyright is vested with the author(s). All
authors whose articles have been accepted
for publication in Volta Voices are requested
to transfer copyright of their articles to AG
Bell prior to publication. This copyright can
be transferred only by written agreement.
Without copyright ownership, the Alexander
Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and
Hard of Hearing cannot issue or disseminate
reprints, authorize copying by individuals
and libraries, or authorize indexing and
abstracting services to use material from
the magazine.
Art Submission Guidelines
Volta Voices prefers digital images over original
artwork. When submitting electronic files,
please provide them in the following formats:
TIF, EPS or JPG (no BMP or GIF images). Digital
images must be at least 300 dpi (at size).
Submit Articles/Items to:
Volta Voices
Alexander Graham Bell Association for the
Deaf and Hard of Hearing
3417 Volta Place, NW • Washington, DC 20007
Email: [email protected]
Submit online at ListeningandSpokenLanguage.org
V
O
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VOICES
Letters to the Editor
Let us know how we are doing. Write a Letter to the Editor,
and you could see your comment in the next issue.
Media Kit
Visit ListeningandSpokenLanguage.org and select
“About AG Bell” for advertising information.
VOLTA VOICES Volume 20, Issue 6, November/December (ISSN 1074-8016) is published 6 times per year in J/F, M/A, M/J, J/A, S/O, and N/D for $50 per year by Alexander Graham Bell
Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, 3417 Volta Pl, NW, Washington, DC, 20007. Periodicals postage is paid at Washington, DC, and other additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send
address changes to Volta Voices, Subscription Department, 3417 Volta Pl., NW, Washington, DC 20007, 202/337-5220 (voice) or 202/337-5221 (TTY).
Claims for undelivered issues must be made within 4 months of publication. Volta Voices is sent to all members of the association. Yearly individual membership dues are $50. Volta Voices
comprises $30 of membership dues. Subscriptions for schools, libraries and institutions are $115 domestic and $135 international (postage included in both prices). Back issues, when
available, are $7.50 plus shipping and handling.
Copyright ©2013 by the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc., 3417 Volta Pl., NW, Washington, DC 20007. Articles published in Volta Voices do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
Acceptance of advertising by Volta Voices does not constitute endorsement of the advertiser, their products or services, nor does Volta Voices make any claims or guarantees as to the
accuracy or validity of the advertisers’ offer.
PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40624074
Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to:
P.O. Box 503, RPO West Beaver Creek, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4R6
On the cover: image courtesy of shutterstock.com/wavebreakmedia
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VOICES FROM AG BELL
Advancing Listening and
Spoken Language for Individuals
Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing
T
hink about a world where
infants and young children
who are deaf and hard of
hearing receive timely diagnosis, access to appropriate technology
and qualified services. Families raising
children who are deaf and hard of hearing
receive all of the information, education
and support needed to make confident,
well-informed decisions throughout their
child’s educational and life transitions.
Envision a world in which teens with
hearing loss receive peer support and learn
to be self-advocates as they transition
to adulthood. Adults who are deaf and
hard of hearing conduct professional and
personal lives free of barriers and discrimination. The professionals supporting these
adults and families are knowledgeable and
effective, and the Listening and Spoken
Language Specialist (LSLS®) certification
is the standard of care for services provided to infants, toddlers and school-aged
children whose families elect a listening
and spoken language outcome.
Most of all think about a world where
the public understands that people with
hearing loss can listen and talk.
This describes AG Bell’s envisioned
future for the listening and spoken language community that it serves. In July
2013, the AG Bell board of directors took
a bold step toward this envisioned future
by adopting a strategic plan that refines
the mission of the organization and
establishes a set of core values and strategic objectives that will guide the way that
the organization will provide services to
children and adults with hearing loss,
their families and the professionals that
support them.
AG Bell has redefined its core purpose
and mission to “advance listening and spoken language for individuals who are deaf
and hard of hearing.” This mission captures the fundamentally unique identity of
the association within the marketplace as
well as the unique identity of the children
and adults it represents. This revised mission focuses attention on the increasing
need to advocate for the needs and rights
of families who have chosen a listening
and spoken language outcome.
Core Values
The Board of Directors also has identified
a set of timeless guiding principles that
characterize the association and form the
foundation on which staff and members
carry out their work. The following core
values represent the AG Bell association:
ʶʶ Empowering and Respectful.
Demonstrated by empowering families
to make informed choices, respecting
all choices, valuing the contributions of
those who are deaf and hard of hearing
and advancing leaders who are reflective of the communities we serve.
ʶʶ Forward-Thinking and Innovative.
Demonstrated by appreciating AG
Bell’s heritage while actively anticipating and adapting to the changing environment, promoting access
to technology and valuing visionary
leadership.
ʶʶ Inclusive and Supportive.
Demonstrated by members and
supporters dedicated to listening
and spoken language and devoted
to promoting a supportive, inclusive
environment for all who are deaf and
hard of hearing.
ʶʶ Dependable and Knowledgeable.
Demonstrated by an earned reputation
for providing evidence-based, reliable,
accurate information about listening
and spoken language.
VOLTA VOICES • No v embe r/De ce mbe r 201 3
Serving Our Community
To chart the course toward our envisioned
future, the AG Bell board of directors
has adopted the following key goals for
serving members and the public and will
undertake a number of major initiatives
over the next several months and years to
achieve these goals. The following are key
audiences and priorities:
ʶʶ Families and children will be provided with a wide array of resources
that support raising independent and
successful children. Children who are
deaf and hard of hearing will have
timely access to appropriate interventions to achieve their full potential. AG
Bell has launched a large-scale project
designed to provide greater insight into
how families perceive the quality and
quantity of available services—and
to identify areas of unmet need. The
organization will be advocating for
the needs of children and families
by developing recommendations for
school-based services and professional
qualifications in major educational
legislation and regulations, and will be
a strong advocate on Capitol Hill for
the needs of children and families who
are pursuing a listening and spoken
language outcome.
ʶʶ Adults who are deaf and hard of hearing will connect and build a community that enables them to work together
to advance equal access. Adults have
valuable insights to share on successful strategies for living with hearing
loss and they will serve as mentors to
the next generation, continuing the
cycle of involvement in the organization throughout their lives. The talents
of young adults will be tapped as
emerging leaders through a leadership
track. AG Bell will increase collabora-
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VOICES FROM AG BELL
tive efforts among organizations that
represent the hearing loss community
to promote awareness and advocacy.
ʶʶ Professionals will be provided with
professional development, credentialing
opportunities and greater awareness of
the theory and applications of listening
and spoken language for individuals
who are deaf and hard of hearing. AG
Bell will seek to increase the number
of Listening and Spoken Language
Specialists to meet the needs of children and families and raise awareness
of the services that these professionals
provide across diverse settings.
ʶʶ The public will know that people who
are deaf and hard of hearing can listen
and use spoken language by seeing
individuals who are deaf and hard
of hearing who listen and talk in the
media. Through young people, AG Bell
will help the public understand what
it means to grow up with hearing loss
today—which is radically different
than the experiences of previous generations, thanks to early hearing detection and intervention and technological
advances. AG Bell seeks to increase
visibility of people who are deaf and
hard of hearing who use listening and
spoken language and change longstanding public perceptions.
Strategy as a Starting
Point
In the words of renowned academic and
author on business and management
Henry Mintzberg, “strategy is not the
consequence of planning, but the opposite:
its starting point.” With this in mind, AG
Bell has embraced an approach of planning strategically, rather than adopting
a strategic plan with set beginning and
ending dates. Through this process, the
association will increase its value to those
it serves by continually reviewing the plan
to provide a roadmap for strategic direction in navigating a changing environment
and the unique landscape of hearing loss.
The insight of AG Bell members is
a valued part of the strategic planning
process. Members provided input into the
plan by describing the landscape in which
the association exists and identifying
key issues of concern. A strategic planning survey generated a strong response
rate with more than 1,300 responses.
Among all participants—parents, adults
and professionals—the top issues of
concern were: access to quality education and educational advocacy, the cost
of hearing technology, and access to early
intervention and qualified professionals.
Participants also valued the connection
to a community that AG Bell offers. As
the strategic plan evolves over time, your
insight is valued and appreciated. I welcome your comments and feedback as we
move forward on this journey together.
Farewell to Alex Graham
The resignation of our Executive Director
Alexander T. Graham was accepted
with regret. Our loss is a gain for the
Council of Exceptional Children, where
Alex has become executive director. We
wish Alex all of the best and thank him
wholeheartedly for a job very well done!
Judy Harrison has been appointed as the
interim executive director/chief executive
officer, and we are pleased to have a dedicated staff lead the organization during
this time of transition. She has been the
director of programs at AG Bell for eight
years. Harrison represents AG Bell on the
Joint Committee for Infant Hearing and
the Council on Education of the Deaf. AG
Bell has contracted with a search firm to
conduct a national search for an executive
director and CEO. As progress is made
with the search, I will keep you up to date.
Sincerely,
Donald M. Goldberg, Ph.D., CCCSLP/A, FAAA, LSLS Cert. AVT
President
[email protected]
QUESTIONS?
COMMENTS?
CONCERNS?
Write to us:
AG Bell
3417 Volta Place, NW
Washington, DC
20007
Or email us:
[email protected]
Or online:
V OLTA V OIC E S • Nov e m be r / De c e m b er 201 3
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EDITOR’S NOTE
Loud and Clear
G
reetings! The articles in this
issue of Volta Voices celebrate
the diverse voices of the many
constituencies—and individuals—that make up the AG Bell community: successful professionals with hearing
loss who contribute to society in their
communities as well as the field of hearing
loss; teenagers with hearing loss who teach
younger children who are deaf and hard of
hearing about self-advocacy and confidence;
parents with typical hearing who tirelessly
make sure that their child with hearing loss
has a voice to communicate and engage
with the world; and AG Bell volunteers who
share their passion for listening and spoken
language. Hear their voices!
Our opening article by Pauline T.
Newton, Ph.D., reviews Sheryl Sandberg’s
book, Lean In, which encourages women
to network and advocate for better pay
and flexible hours in order to maintain a
work-life balance. Newton uses the book
to answer a question that may be on many
of our readers’ minds: Do individuals with
hearing loss face a similar glass ceiling that
hinders their climb to promotion in the
workplace?
In “Developing Speech Skills for
Children Who Come Late to Listening
or Have Other Special Needs,” Christina
Perigoe, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, CED, LSLS
Cert. AVT, discusses approaches for
speech and language development for children with hearing loss who have come late
to listening or have additional identified
special needs. She reminds us of Daniel
Ling’s legacy and his vision that children
with hearing loss can learn to listen, speak
and thrive.
Samuel R. Atcherson, Ph.D., writes
about “Trading Signals: My Decision to
Go Bilateral with Cochlear Implants.” He
discusses his considerations about getting
his first cochlear implant, his life as a
bimodal hearing aid and cochlear implant
user, and his eventual decision to get a
second cochlear implant.
“LOFT in Action: Voices of Leadership”
profiles some of the special programming
from the July 2013 sessions of the AG
Bell Leadership Opportunities for Teens
(LOFT) program, which had this year’s
LOFT participants develop and facilitate
a “Teens & Tweens” program for middle
school students who are deaf and hard of
hearing and their parents, demonstrating
what LOFT is about—providing specific,
tangible opportunities for the LOFT teens
to develop into confident leaders, effective
advocates and inspirational role models.
As a supplement to this article,
Christina Perigoe, Ph.D., CCC-SLP,
CED, LSLS Cert. AVT, interviews the
lead counselor and co-founder of LOFT,
Ken Levinson, who provides an historical perspective on the program and his
thoughts on its impact and future.
In “Beauty in Every Obstacle,” Alana
Nichols writes about embracing herself
to the fullest, including her deafness, by
advocating for herself, surrounding herself
with positive people and ultimately learning to find happiness and laughter on a
daily basis.
In our “Tips for Parents” column,
Lexi Logan writes about using her natural
creativity and arts background to cultivate
language and speech for her son Phoenix,
11, who is deaf and is a burgeoning actor!
Our “Up Front on the Back Page”
column features Carrie Spangler, Au.D.,
CCC-A, a hearing aid user and an educational audiologist, who feels her career has
come together with a purpose. She offers
heartfelt advice to teens with hearing loss
and shares her experience growing up in
the mainstream, choosing audiology as
her profession and advocating on behalf of
children with hearing loss.
Thank you, as always, for reading. It
is our hope that the following pages will
put a smile on your face and provide you
with inspiration and motivation to thrive
in the New Year! We are in the process of
editorial planning for 2014. We welcome
your comments, suggestions or story ideas!
Please email [email protected].
Kind regards,
Editor, Volta Voices
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To the Editor
I
write in response to “State Laws for
Students Who Are Deaf and Hard of
Hearing” (Volta Voices July/August
2013).
First, thank you for bringing attention to these laws, which are designed to
clarify and enhance the protections of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (IDEA).
The article rightly points out that
Deaf Children’s Bills of Rights (DCBRs)
support access to sign language. It then
says that sign language is “not relevant to
the majority of students who are deaf and
hard of hearing in the public schools” and
“52 percent of students who are deaf and
hard of hearing nationwide are educated
in environments which focus on listening
and spoken language.” Doing the math,
this leaves 48 percent who are not placed
in such environments, such as those who
are in settings that include sign language.
In my view we should celebrate—not
criticize—DCBRs’ attempts to protect
all the ways deaf students communicate,
regardless of majority/minority status.
The article also incorrectly states that
the language in some state laws “runs
counter to federal laws,” using as an example the suggestion that determination of
least restrictive environment (LRE) “take
into account the unique communication
needs of children who are deaf and hard
of hearing.” In fact, longstanding IDEA
interpretation and policy support this provision. For example, the U.S. Education
Department has declared:
“Any setting that does not meet the
communication and related needs of a
child who is deaf does not allow for the
provision of a free appropriate public education (FAPE) and cannot be considered
the LRE for that child. Just as the IDEA
requires placement in the regular educational setting when it is appropriate for the
unique needs of a child who is deaf, it also
requires placement outside of the regular
educational setting when the child’s needs
cannot be met in that setting” (Letter to
Stern, September 30, 2011).
On another topic, we are pleased that
the article provides information on the
proposed Alice Cogswell Act. If passed,
this law would strengthen state accountability for meeting the language and
communication needs of each deaf and
hard of hearing student, whether a student
communicates through spoken language
and listening, sign language, or, as is the
case with many deaf and hard of hearing students, both. Interested advocates
can read more at http://ceasd.org/childfirst/alice-cogswell. I may be reached
for questions or comments about this at
[email protected].
Thank you for your initiatives to
educate parents, professionals, and policy
makers about students’ rights to have their
language and communication needs met
in school.
Respectfully,
Barbara Raimondo, Esq.
Government Relations Liaison
Conference of Educational
Administrators of Schools and Programs
for the Deaf (CEASD)
(800) 825-6758
Request a
FREE Catalog!
12
V OLTA V OIC E S • Nov e m be r / De c e m b er 201 3
©2013 Cochlear Limited. All rights reserved. Hear Now. And Always and other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of Cochlear Limited.
THEY SAID NOTHING COULD BE
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too late for his dad, but for the hundreds of thousands of people whose lives he helped change,
it’s been nothing short of a miracle. Let there be sound.
Today they can hear because one man chose not to listen. Read their stories at Cochlear.com/US/Hear.
Or to connect with a Cochlear Concierge call 800-483-3123 or email [email protected].
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Voices contributors
Samuel R. Atcherson,
Ph.D., is associate
professor in the
Department of
Audiology and Speech
Pathology at the
University of Arkansas
at Little Rock in consortium with the
University of Arkansas for Medical
Sciences. Atcherson is a bilateral cochlear
implant user. He is the author of over 70
publications, including two books and 27
peer-reviewed articles, and has given over
120 presentations on topics involving
auditory rehabilitation, assistive technology, clinical electrophysiology, age-related
hearing loss, auditory processing
disorders and health literacy. He is past
president of the Association of Medical
Professionals with Hearing Losses. He
lives in Little Rock, Ark., with his wife
and two daughters. When he is not
working, he enjoys woodworking,
cooking and outdoor sports.
Lexi Logan was raised
in Bucks County, Pa., on
a bucolic sheep farm in
the valleys of Cuttalossa.
Educated in Quaker
Schools, Logan was
surrounded by artists
throughout her life. She followed her love
of art to New York City, where she earned
a Bachelor of Science degree in Fine Art
and Art Education from New York
University. After graduating with honors,
Lexi worked in Manhattan for 10 years
creating art, teaching and immersing
herself in the city life. In 2000, she
returned to Bucks County with her
Australian husband, Andrew Logan, an
internationally recognized sculptor.
Together they have three children,
Phoenix, 11, Fiona, 8, and Roman, 5. The
family lives on an “Art Farm” in
Buckingham, Pa. Logan spends much of
her time parenting her three children,
painting, scouring thrift shops and
documenting it all with her digital camera.
Pauline Newton,
Ph.D., teaches introductory academic
writing courses at
Southern Methodist
University (SMU) in
Dallas, Texas. Her
specialty is American Literature, and this
academic year she is teaching courses on
graphic novels and travel narratives. She
was born with a bilateral severe-to-profound hearing loss, and visited the Helen
H. Beebe Speech and Hearing Center
when she was a child. She lived in Latin
America during those childhood years,
but spent summers in Easton, Pa., living
at the Larry Jarrett House and in the
Welches’ house (a summer rental from a
Lafayette College professor).
Alana Nichols was born
and raised in Taipei,
Taiwan. Profoundly
deaf in both ears due to
a common cavity
malformation, she
underwent experimental
surgery and received auditory-verbal
therapy while growing up. After their
experiences with Alana, her parents
started the Children’s Hearing
Foundation in Taiwan, which has since
expanded its resources to China and
Japan, helping thousands of children with
hearing loss. Her mother, Joanna Nichols,
was the 2010 recipient of AG Bell’s
prestigious Volta Award.
Christina Perigoe,
Ph.D., CCC-SLP,
CED, LSLS Cert. AVT,
is the coordinator of the
Early Oral Intervention
graduate program at The
University of Southern
Mississippi. She is a certified teacher, a
teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing, a
speech-language pathologist, and a
Listening and Spoken Language
Specialist (LSLS ®). Perigoe is an
international presenter and co-edited The
Volta Review monographs, “Multiple
Challenges: Multiple Solutions”
(2004), and “Professional Preparation
for Listening and Spoken Language
Practitioners” (2010). Perigoe is a founding member of the Ling Consortium
dedicated to continuing Daniel Ling’s
vision that children with hearing loss
can learn to listen and speak. She
will be doing a series of workshops on
Speech Assessment and Intervention in
Australia and New Zealand in conjunction with the RIDBC Renwick Centre
and Cochlear Australia/New Zealand in
November-December 2013.
Carrie Spangler,
Au.D., CCC-A, has
worked with school
districts providing
educational audiology
services for over 13
years. She is currently
employed at The University of Akron
School of Speech-Language Pathology
and Audiology. In addition to her
professional expertise, she brings personal
experience as she successfully lives with
hearing loss. Spangler provides presentations nationally and internationally and is
the co-author of the GAP program
(Guide to Access Planning), a transition
program for teens with hearing loss, and
the LIFE-R (Listening Inventory for
Education-Revised). She is the chairperson for the State of Ohio Universal
Newborn Hearing Screening Committee
and advocated successfully for budget
funding for hearing aids for children in
the state of Ohio. Spangler is the 2012
recipient of the Cheryl DeConde-Johnson
Award for Best Practices in Pediatric/
Educational Audiology. She can be
reached at [email protected].
15
SOUND
NEWS BITES
Volta Voices Receives
2013 APEX Award
The Volta Voices article “The Changing
Landscape of Deaf Education” by
Krystyann Krywko, Ed.D., is a 2013
APEX Awards winner! The article,
which appeared as a feature piece
in the November/December 2012
issue, was selected for an Award
of Excellence in the feature writing
category. The APEX Awards recognize
excellence in publications work by
professional communicators and the
2013 competition featured a pool of
some 2,400 entries.
IDEA Task Force
AG Bell recently formed a task force to
assess and make recommendations
about the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA) as it pertains
to children who are deaf and hard of
hearing who use listening and spoken
language. The task force will also
make recommendations related to the
qualifications of professionals who
support these children in school-based
settings. These recommendations will
form the basis for a position statement
and model legislative language for the
eventual reauthorization of IDEA.
The taskforce will be chaired by
Bruce Goldstein, Esq., a senior partner
at Goldstein, Ackerhalt & Pletcher,
LLP. He has more than 30 years of
experience and concentrates his
practice in the areas of education law,
disability law, estate planning, not-forprofit corporation law and health law.
Goldstein is a past president of AG Bell
and a recipient of AG Bell’s prestigious
Honors of the Association award. Look
for more information on the IDEA task
force soon!
16
CHAPTERS
Hear the Roar! Summer Fest at the Detroit Zoo
The third annual summer event of the Michigan chapter of AG Bell—Hear the
Roar—was held at the Detroit Zoo on a hot day in June, which didn’t stop the
115 attendees (or zoo animals!) from having a good time!
The event kicked off with two fantastic icebreakers. Families gathered in
a large circle and introduced themselves to one another by autographing a
beach ball, sharing how hearing loss has touched their lives, and then tossing
the ball to another family, until all families were introduced. The second activity
was geared toward children with hearing loss and adults with hearing loss.
Each adult received a bag of beads. Each child had an empty necklace. To
facilitate communication across generations, the children were encouraged to
initiate conversation with an adult with hearing loss. After chatting for a while,
the adults gave beads to the children to string on their necklaces. The children
all went home with a reminder that they are never alone and have a strong
community behind them.
Other activities for children included making and decorating visors and other
animal-themed arts and crafts, scavenger hunts, and a wild relay race.
Summer Camp for Students with Hearing Loss
The Michigan chapter of AG Bell provided scholarships
to 13 students who are deaf and hard of hearing this year
to attend summer camp. The YMCA Storer camp gives
students with hearing loss the opportunity to go to camp
with peers with typical hearing. Staff from the Michigan
chapter attends the camp in order to train the YMCA camp
staff on hearing loss, troubleshoot the students’ equipment such as hearing aids and cochlear implants, provide
daily language-based activities for the students, and assist
where needed throughout the two weeks of camp.
For many of the students with hearing loss, this was
their first camp experience and they were able to learn
and participate in activities they had never done before.
Brooklyn DeRyckere wrote, “I loved the rock wall because I went all the way to
the top. My family will be happy for me because I was on the top!”
Other students have been returning to camp year after year and have grown
to appreciate the friendships and relationships they are able to form while at
camp. Darionna Bell has returned to camp for four years now and enjoys being
able to make lots of new friends and sleep in a cabin.
Camp is an experience like none other for students with hearing loss because
it provides a great amount of responsibility, language and self-advocacy, along
with the fun-filled activities, meaningful relationships and leadership opportunities. If you are a student with hearing loss who lives in Michigan, consider
applying for a scholarship to attend YMCA Storer camp in July 2014!
VOLTA VOICES • N ov e m be r / De c e m b er 201 3
BITES
Oral Deaf Adults Section
(ODAS) 50th Anniversary
Celebration
In recognition of AG Bell’s original oral
deaf adult group, two 50th anniversary
celebrations will be held in 2014. The
first celebration will take place in a
retreat on March 14-16, 2014 where it
all began—the 1964 Convention in Salt
Lake City. The 50th anniversary will
also be celebrated in Orlando during
the AG Bell 2014 Convention where
attendees can see and hear highlights
from our time in Salt Lake City and
attend tributes to the ODAS founders
and members and their achievements.
ODAS was founded by four remarkable men: Arthur Simon, James
Marsters, Latham Bruenig and Richard
Thompson. In this day and age, with
In Memoriam: George W. Fellendorf
George W. Fellendorf, Ed.D., of Keene,
N.H., passed away on Thursday,
September 12, of acute leukemia. He was
88 years old. He served as the executive
director of AG Bell and as the editor of the
association’s peer-reviewed journal, The
Volta Review, from 1962 until 1978.
Dr. Fellendorf and his wife Hazel first
became involved with AG Bell when their
middle daughter, Linda, was born with severe hearing loss. The Fellendorfs
chose a listening and spoken language outcome for their daughter, so that she
could attend local public schools alongside her sisters.
In 1962, Fellendorf accepted an offer to become the executive director of
AG Bell. It was a position for which he was uniquely prepared as he understood the needs of parents of children with hearing loss.
Fellendorf’s 16 years of service coincided with gradual but dramatic
changes in the field of listening and spoken language. In 1973, the
Rehabilitation Act passed, one of the first major civil rights laws which created
and extended rights to individuals with disabilities, increasing the number of
students who are deaf and hard of hearing attending mainstream schools.
Richard H. Israel, Ph.D., who worked as director of professional services
and programs at AG Bell from 1971 to 1975, vividly remembered two of Dr.
Fellendorf’s lasting legacies to the association and children with hearing
loss, “George was a major force behind the AG Bell scholarship program and
formulated the ‘Hearing Alert’ program to foster early identification of hearing
loss in babies and young children. The legacy of this program is the Universal
Newborn Hearing Screening program that is mandated in most states of the
United States.”
Fellendorf then continued to be active in the field of listening and spoken
language, mentoring and guiding other parents of children with hearing loss,
contributing to AG Bell publications, and serving as an inspiration to individuals living with hearing loss and the professionals that serve them.
George W. Fellendorf’s life was celebrated in a memorial service on
October 1 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Keene, N.H.
V O LTA V O ICES • N o v embe r/De ce mbe r 201 3
Compiled by:
amazing technology like digital hearing
aids, cochlear implants and the
never-ending influence of computers,
smart phones, videophones and other
communication modes, more and
more children who are deaf and hard of
hearing are succeeding in this modern
world. As Richard Thompson said at
the 1965 regional ODAS meeting in
Toronto, “We are more concerned with
how we make the most of what we
have and how we have learned to live
with our limitations.”
In later years, the ODAS name was
changed twice, first to the Oral Hearing
Impaired Section (OHIS) and then to
the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Section
(DHHS). Now our voices are heard all
over the world through the Internet like
Facebook, SpeakUp or LipSpeak.
We have come a long way since that
first meeting in Salt Lake City 50 years
ago and have much to celebrate and
remember! For reservation information
for the Salt Lake City retreat, please
contact Karen Kirby at kmtkirby@
gmail.com or Carol Ban at chban43@
gmail.com.
Medical Student
Wins CART Case
In a recent decision, a federal court
ruled that Creighton University violated
federal law by not providing computerassisted realtime transcription (CART)
to Michael Argenyi, a medical student
who is deaf and uses a cochlear
implant to communicate. The case
was profiled in the July/August 2013
issue of Volta Voices.
“Michael Argenyi wanted to be
a doctor and ended up a hero for
people who are deaf and hard of
17
SOUND BITES
CHAPTERS
New NY Chapter Website
The New York chapter of AG Bell has unveiled its newly redesigned website: www.agbellnewyork.org. The website features extensive information
on understanding hearing loss, achieving a listening and spoken language
outcome for your child with hearing loss, a New York state events calendar,
ways to get involved and connected, and much more!
hearing. He fought for four years for
the right to learn – to full and equal
access to education – and never gave
up,” said attorney Mary Vargas who
represented Argenyi in the case. “The
jury verdict is an historic validation
of the rights of people who are deaf
and hard of hearing to follow their
dreams.”
When Creighton University did not
grant Argenyi’s request for CART
so he could understand what was
being said in classes and during
medical rounds, Argenyi brought suit
against Creighton in federal court in
Nebraska alleging violations of the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act. However, the district court ruled
in the school’s favor, holding that
Argenyi had not been denied access
to the medical school because he
was passing his classes—albeit while
paying for his own interpreting.
Argenyi appealed to the 8th
Circuit, at which time AG Bell filed an
amicus brief in his support. The U.S.
Department of Justice (DOJ) also filed
a brief in this case largely agreeing
with AG Bell’s arguments.
In a unanimous decision, the 8th
Circuit agreed with the plaintiff, AG Bell
and the DOJ that Creighton had violated
federal accessibility statutes by denying
CART to Argenyi. The court stated that
accommodations are “necessary” if
they “ensure that all people have ‘full
and equal enjoyment’ of public accom-
EARN
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Conne s & advice |
NECT
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JTC.O
.
W
W
W
JTC’s expertise in young
children (ages 0-5) with hearing
loss is online for both parents and professionals
Parents can access:
• Distance Courses online
• Ideas & Advice blogs
• Classes via live online video
Professionals can enrich therapy with easy
to print PDFs to share with families with topics on:
• Hearing loss, Language,
• Education, Family fun
• Listening, Speech
Information is available in Spanish and English
Learn more by email: [email protected] Or visit: WWW.JTC.ORG/CONNECT
18
modations [i.e., schools] regardless of
disability.” Because Argenyi could not
fully understand lectures and rounds
without CART, he had stated a viable
claim under federal accessibility statutes. The 8th Circuit remanded the case
to the district court for a trial under the
proper standards, which Argenyi won.
To access additional background and
information on the case, go to http://bit.
ly/18cO8it.
Correction
The picture accompanying the SoundBites story
“Connecting Families Through Listening and
Spoken Language” in the September/October
issue should have had the following caption:
Left to right: Susan Dillmuth-Miller, Elizabeth
Kellenberger, Michele Flower, Carla Cabanas,
Lisa Goldstein, Judy Sexton, Debbie Johnston
and Lillian Lippencott.
MEMBERS IN THE MEDIA
Young AG Bell Member in Toys R Us Catalog
Makayla, 3, or “MeiMei” as
everyone knows her, was born with
hearing loss in both ears and Down
Syndrome. She started wearing
hearing aids at 6 months and
received a cochlear implant in her
right ear in September 2012. She
attends an integrated preschool
program and loves to sing and
dance. Through the Clarke School
for Hearing and Speech where
she was receiving speech therapy,
her family received an application
for the Toys R Us catalog where
Makayla recently appeared!
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19
“Lean
In”
to a Promotion
By Pauline T. Newton, Ph.D.
L
ast summer, I obtained a copy of
Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In, which
encourages women to network
and advocate for better pay and
flexible hours in order to maintain a
work-life balance. Sandberg has remarkable credentials: two Harvard degrees,
a position as Chief Operating Officer
(COO) at Facebook and a former vicepresidential position at Google. At times,
her advice, while rightfully encouraging,
seems daunting not only to women who
are not COOs, but also to individuals
who are deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH)
and who gratefully grip their desks once
hired, knowing they’ve beaten great odds
by landing a position.
20
As I read Lean In, I kept scribbling
notes. Sandberg’s suggestions were excellent, but they did not address a question
that has vexed me, a bilateral cochlear
implant user, for years. Putting the gender
question aside for a moment, do individuals with hearing loss face a similar glass
ceiling that hinders their climb to promotion in the workplace?
Mulling this question as I continued to
read, my mind wandered to tennis player
Venus Williams, who relentlessly pushed,
with the help of Billie Jean King and others, for equal prize money at Wimbledon.
As she battled for this purse, Venus not
only advocated for herself but for other
women in different professions.
Advocating for
Ourselves
Like Sandberg, Williams stands at the
top of the “jungle gym,” but women
and men with hearing loss—not just
COOs of Facebook and professional
tennis players—need to do the same:
advocate. They are not just speaking up
for themselves; they are paving the way
for others who follow in their footsteps.
I still bite my nails at times when I
request CART for specific lectures at
Southern Methodist University (SMU),
where I work. “Is it really necessary?,” I
ask myself in a little voice. Then I think
of the others that might come after me:
SMU students with cochlear implants
Images courtesy of shutterstock.com/wavebreakmedia
True. Few recognize that diligent
coworker in the corner. Toot your own
horn (but don’t blast it). Sandberg notes
that women are less likely to advocate for
themselves. She cites an example of this
failure to speak up. When she was finishing a lecture, she noted that she would
take two more questions. At that point,
all the women put their hands down. The
men kept theirs up. I fear the same rings
true for people with hearing loss. We’re
grateful that we have titles that label us as
employed. We dutifully sit with our work.
We don’t keep our hands in the air when
an opportunity arises.
promotion initially bumps up the salary
minimally. Individuals with hearing loss
need to speak up and volunteer themselves
for better positions. However, are individuals with hearing loss overlooked, because a
promotion might, say, include more communication via telephone?
Don’t Wait to Request
Support
It’s possible that a supervisor or boss may
believe that a person who is D/HH cannot succeed with a promotion because it
requires skills that may seem difficult to
master with a hearing loss. For example,
if a promotion requires an individual who
is D/HH to communicate in a variety of
Timidity Costs Dearly
Failure to promote oneself can be costly. For group settings, an employer may wonder if
the candidate will struggle.
example, women are less likely to negotiate
The best thing to do is to ask. Both
for a higher salary when offered a job, an
parties should ask questions of the other,
error that can impact one’s income over a
lifetime. According to the WAGE (Women respectfully. Journalist Lisa Goldstein,
who worked at a bookstore in the 1990s,
Are Getting Even) Project, if Candidate A
doesn’t negotiate his/her salary before being found herself in this position. She was not
hired, Candidate B, who negotiates and who promoted to manager, and someone hired
starts out making only a few hundred more after her received a promotion. If an individual with a hearing loss like Goldstein
than Candidate A, can make more than $1
recognizes that s/he was overlooked, s/he
million more over a lifetime.
should discuss it with a supervisor. This
The same proves true for promotions;
may prove awkward, given the sensitive
if a person who is D/HH does not get a
promotion, then s/he will earn considerably nature of the topic—an employee doesn’t
want to sound like s/he is accusing a superless over a lifetime than a colleague who
visor of discrimination without concrete
was hired at the same time for the same
evidence—but the employee should conpay and who was promoted—even if the
or colleagues who might gradually or
suddenly lose their hearing due to aging
or a head injury.
The same goes for promotion. I was
relieved when I landed my job at SMU,
which, at the time, was a one-year
lecturer position. I quietly followed the
rules. I reported enrolled students who
never came to class. I met with students
in my office for extra conferences. I
attended departmental meetings and
worked with interdisciplinary committees. And yet, one day, I mentioned to a
mentor that I had not been considered
for a teaching opportunity. He replied,
“Don’t assume that you’re being ignored.
Step forward and volunteer yourself.”
21
sider addressing any potential concerns in
a circumspect manner by demonstrating
that s/he can fulfill the requirements. For
example, if conference calls might be part
of a promotion, then s/he should make
sure her/his boss knows about services that
transcribe such calls.
In fact, a supervisor (or the appropriate
contact in human resources) should know
about such resources early on in the hiring
process. If I had not requested CART
during my first years at SMU, my contact
in the office of access and equity might
have wondered why I had waited so long to
request it. By the time the promotion arises,
the supervisor then ideally should have no
qualms about the candidate’s performance.
In Lean In, Sandberg aggressively
addresses awkward questions, too, though
she clearly wears the supervisor’s hat.
In her case, she asked more than one of
her team players whether she was turning down a promotion because she was
considering having a baby. Sandberg
argues that a woman with a promotion
will return to work happier after maternity
leave, knowing that she is being mentally
challenged. Likewise for the individual
with hearing loss: if one’s company is not
tapping potential, the individual who is D/
HH may become frustrated or even bitter.
The employee and the company will thrive
if the employee is challenged and encouraged as s/he grows into a new position.
The deaf community—not to mention women—needs more team leaders
like Sandberg who address awkward issues
compassionately, but until then, it must
educate employers, early and often, so that,
given certain reasonable accommodations,
the individual who is D/HH can perform
just as well as anyone on the team.
Two Types of Mentors
A mentor can enable an employee to
navigate such uncomfortable moments. If
a mentor can communicate to a supervisor
that a person who is D/HH can perform
well with the promotion, that provides
that individual with an advocate in his/
her quest for professional growth. In
“Perceptions of Women in Management:
A Thematic Analysis of Razing the Glass
Ceiling,” Mindy S. Baumgartner and
David E. Schneider stress the importance
of informal mentoring, and their suggestions apply to the individual with hearing
loss. The women they interviewed encourage mentees to “select ‘someone who has
been where you want to go.’”
An individual who is D/HH may need
two mentors: one who has a hearing loss
and one who works in his/her profession.
If an individual is looking for a promotion
and s/he thinks that a supervisor may have
qualms about her/his hearing loss, s/he
can learn what mentors who are deaf have
done. S/He can network on Facebook and
via email.
From time to time, I have contacted
both types of mentors. I belong to a listserv
for academics who are deaf and hard of
hearing. I have also queried my mentors
with typical hearing about applying for
specific roles or grants within the university.
Christine Anthony, cofounder and
COO of Altra Interactive, who has a
hearing loss, practiced this advice when
Listen, Talk,
and Grow.
Preschool programs at Clarke
enhance children’s listening,
speech, language and pre-literacy
skills while fostering their social,
emotional, cognitive, and creative
development.
To learn more, email
[email protected] or visit
clarkeschools.org/preschool.
Boston • Jacksonville • New York • Northampton • Philadelphia
Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech provides children who are deaf and hard of
hearing with the listening, learning and spoken language skills they need to succeed.
22
&ODUNH3UHVFKRRO
9ROWD9RLFH
“When I first observed a Clarke classroom, I saw
immediately that the children were really involved and asking thoughtful questions. I could
see there was an emphasis not just on language,
but on thinking and being confident. I knew
this would be the place for my daughter because
I saw how accepting and wonderful the teachers
were. I knew she would blossom at Clarke.”
—Parent, Boston campus
clarkeschools.org VOLTA VOICES • N ov e m be r / De c e m b er 201 3
she was up for a promotion during her
consulting days. When she applied for a
promotion as a manager, there were five or
six candidates but only three positions. All
candidates were qualified but the ones that
got promoted were those who had bosses
and colleagues present an argument and
advocate on their behalf. Anthony got the
promotion because her supervisor at the
time and a former boss both made strong
arguments in her favor.
“The reason they were happy to argue
for me (in addition to my being qualified)
was that I made it clear from the beginning that I wanted to be promoted and
worked with both people to show I
deserved it and asked for their help and
support. I kept them in the loop on all the
things that I accomplished so they had
ammunition to argue. Self-advertising
works!” said Anthony.
Take the Long Road
Anthony emphasizes that this self-advertising must occur over a long period of
time, and not just before the promotion.
She suggests making a list of strengths
and skills: “It helps to write this down in
a formal list or report; that way, you have
clear and logical arguments for a promotion.” She adds, “You can also share the
report with someone else to see if they are
convinced by your arguments.”
Anthony also cautions against blaming hearing loss for not being promoted,
arguing that “people can feel ‘entitled’ to
a promotion and when they don’t get it,
their first reaction is to blame ‘something
else’ like hearing loss, bad boss, etc.” A list
of strengths and skills then becomes an
impartial way to self-evaluate and to show
your supervisor your abilities.
However, “hearing loss makes it hard
sometimes to be in the loop with people
and conversations (think a business dinner
in a noisy restaurant!). When you don’t
have the right connections and are not able
to ‘schmooze’ in every environment, then
the path is more difficult,” acknowledges
Anthony. Often business decisions and
connections occur outside the boardroom—in a bar or at a baseball game.
A mentor in the Baumgartner and
Schneider article suggests that women
should “learn how to golf or play tennis.
Don’t be afraid to initiate meetings, lunch
or to include yourself and show that you
are aggressive.”
People with hearing loss could follow
this advice. Finally, consider the words
of Rabbi Darby Leigh, a strong advocate. During an interview with a hiring
committee, Rabbi Leigh said, “I may not
hear very well, but I really know how to
listen.”
References
Baumgartner, M. S., & Schneider, D. E. (2010).
Perceptions of women in management: A
thematic analysis of razing the glass ceiling.
Journal of Career Development, 37(2), 559-576.
Sandberg, S. (2013). Lean In: Women, Work, and
the Will to Lead. New York, NY: Knopf.
Ungar-Sargon, B. (2013). Deaf rabbi
prepares to lead a hearing congregation in
Massachusetts. Tablet Magazine, July 2013.
Retrieved from http://www.tabletmag.com/
jewish-life-and-religion/139163/deaf-rabbi
WAGE Project (n.d.). What Are the Costs of the
Wage Gap? Retrieved from http://wageproject.
org/files/costs.php
St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf
At St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf (SJI), we believe that children with hearing
loss deserve the opportunity to listen, speak and read.
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4/4/2012 8:37:08 AM
23
Developing
Speech Skills
for Children Who
Come Late to Listening
or Have Other Special Needs
By Christina Perigoe, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, CED, LSLS Cert. AVT
C
hildren with typical hearing
and development learn to
speak by listening to those
around them. In addition to
learning the vocabulary (semantics) and
grammar (syntax) of the language, children learn how to use it (pragmatics) and
they learn their mother tongue’s unique
pronunciation of speech sounds and
words–its phonology. Phonology is best
learned through listening. That’s why
children will speak what they hear. They
will speak like their parents, their siblings or their friends in the community.
Children with hearing loss will also
speak the way that they hear. If certain speech sounds are not getting to
24
the child’s ears (and his/her brain) or if
the sounds are not clear, then the child
will have difficulty saying those speech
sounds clearly.
With newborn hearing screening,
early hearing detection and intervention
(EHDI) programs, intensive audiological
management, appropriate listening and
spoken language intervention, and family
support, infants and young children who
are deaf and hard of hearing have an
opportunity to follow the typical trajectory of listening, speech and language
development. These children not only
learn to listen, but learn to speak like
their typically developing peers (Cole &
Flexer, 2011).
However, some children with hearing
loss may not be developing speech skills
on par with their hearing peers. These
children may be “late starters.” They may
have additional challenges. Or they may
be children who are both starting late and
dealing with additional special needs.
“Late Starters”
“Late starters” are children who have come
late to listening due to a variety of reasons
such as late, missed or ignored diagnosis; lack of universal newborn hearing
screening in a particular geographic area
or country; inconsistent use of amplification; or early emphasis on visual languages
and later transition to an auditory-verbal
shutterstock.com/K. Miri Photography
approach. The latter sometimes happens
after a child in a visual language program
receives a cochlear implant.
For the child who is coming late to
listening, but who is otherwise developing typically, speech remediation can
be quite successful, especially when the
child learns to use hearing to process
speech and spoken language. The later
the child starts receiving auditory input
and speech remediation, the slower the
progress will be.
Additional Special
Needs
hearing have additional identified special
needs (Gallaudet Research Institute,
2008). These additional special needs
may range from mild to very severe, as
can their effect on the child’s ability
to process and produce speech sounds.
Some possible causes include genetic disorders, prematurity, accidents or illnesses
to the child or to the mother during
pregnancy. Sometimes, the cause of the
additional disability, as well as the hearing loss, is unknown. What is important
to remember is that additional special
needs may occur and be diagnosed at any
age, with any amount of severity and in
any combination. Often disabilities that
are less severe are diagnosed later, since
they are not as obvious.
Some additional special needs that
may adversely influence speech production are related specifically to speech.
These may be atypical speech structures
(e.g., cleft palate), difficulty coordinating mouth movements (e.g., childhood
apraxia/dyspraxia of speech), weak
speech muscles and/or poor muscle
movement (e.g., dysarthria), difficulty
pronouncing words (e.g., articulation or
phonological disorders), problems with
vocal cords/phonation, poor sensory
feedback in the mouth, or dysfluency
(stuttering) (Daniel & Ritter, 2012).
Others may be related to cognitive functioning or communication (e.g., autism
spectrum disorder).
Understanding the child’s additional
challenges will help the professional determine the best approach for remediation
of speech. A team approach is essential, so
that parents, teachers and therapists have
consistent goals and expectations.
For children with hearing loss and
additional special needs, especially if
they are starting late, remedial speech
teaching is often necessary. The approach
might emphasize audition but use other
modalities, such as vision and tactile
cues, to make teaching clearer to the
child. Repetition and practice is often
necessary, as these children may have
missed opportunities for typical speech
babble practice in infancy.
Daniel Ling’s Legacy
It is estimated that approximately 40 per- Daniel Ling, OC, Ph.D., developed a
cent of children who are deaf and hard of highly organized and sequential system
of speech assessment and intervention for
children with hearing loss (Ling, 2002).
Ling’s system is based on optimizing
the use of audition to develop speech.
It was first introduced in the 1970s, but
has been used for decades. The strength
of the program is its emphasis on the
relationship between speech perception
(what the child can hear) and speech
production (what the child can say).
When acoustic cues are not available to
the child, the use of visual and tactile
cues can provide the information necessary for the development of most sounds.
After using a visual or tactile cue, the
teacher/therapist should ‘put the sound
back into hearing.’ Ling’s system is particularly useful in working with children
who need remediation of speech skills
and with children who are progressing
slowly. It can also be adapted for a more
developmental approach.
By using the Ling Six Sound Test
and knowledge of speech acoustics, the
teacher/practitioner can predict which
speech sounds the child is most likely to
hear and which sounds may be problematic (Ling, 2006). A functional listening assessment and an assessment of the
child’s speech production abilities in
syllables, words and spontaneous speech
will help in selecting listening and speaking goals.
The Ling Phonetic Level Evaluation
(1976) is the established tool for assessing speech production at the syllable
level. The results of the Phonetic Level
Evaluation should be compared first to
how the child performs on a word test
such as Identifying Early Phonological
Needs (Paden & Brown, 1992) or the
Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation-2
(Goldman & Fristoe, 2000), and then
to how the child uses speech sounds
in connected spoken language. Ling’s
Phonologic Level Evaluation (1976) was
designed to assess the child’s speech in
connected language.
Once speech goals are selected, the
child’s progress should be charted in
detail. Syllable practice (phonetic level)
seeks to establish four principal components of the child’s ability to master
non-meaningful speech sounds: accuracy,
speed, flexibility and economy of effort
(Ling, 2002). Phonologic level practice
25
Considerations for Teachers, Therapists
and Parents During Speech Remediation
Does the child have sufficient hearing at required frequencies to hear
the speech sound? If not, why not?
Can that be changed?
Is the child’s hearing technology
working reliably? Is the child using it
consistently?
What speech skills can the child
already produce in syllables, in
words, in connected language?
Does the child have the prerequisite
knowledge and skills to produce the
speech sound or do we need to go
back to an earlier skill level?
Are the materials appropriate for the
speech skill being developed?
Are the strategies being used effective? Would a different strategy be
better?
focuses on the child’s ability to transfer
phonetic (syllable) level skills to use in
words, phrases, sentences and connected
spoken language. Ling stressed the
importance of incorporating suprasegmental aspects of speech (duration,
intensity and pitch) into both levels,
with appropriate breath support and
vocal quality, so that children develop
natural-sounding voices. With early
intervention and the use of improved
hearing technologies, children with
hearing loss can use listening skills to
develop better voice quality than when
Ling first devised his system.
Ling has a wealth of speech strategies for every sound outlined in his
books (1976; 1989; 2002) and in the
Ling Speech Cards (Ling & North,
2009). These strategies are predicated
on using the most appropriate sense
modality (usually audition), ensuring that the child has the necessary
prerequisite speech skills, progressing
from what the child knows to what
is unknown and working from easy
to more difficult sounds. The teacher/
therapist should give clear feedback
to the child about whether the speech
26
Is the child receiving enough practice to learn the speech sound? Is it
being reinforced appropriately?
Are both phonetic (syllable) level and
phonologic (word, phrase and sentence) level skills being developed?
Is the child using learned speech
sounds in spontaneous spoken
language?
Are there appropriate carryover
activities for practice of speech at
home? Are parents involved in the
process?
Are speech skills, once they are
learned, being retained?
Is the rate of progress acceptable?
If not, what factors might be impeding progress?
What speech sounds should be
developed next?
production is correct and reinforce the
child appropriately and in the context
of communication. Syllable practice
should be quick and interesting, and be
related as soon as possible to functional
spoken language in real-life settings
(Perigoe, 1992). Further, carryover of
speech skills into function words, such
as prepositions, articles and conjunctions, can help improve language
(Perigoe & Ling, 1986). Also, Ling
recommends the use of multiple speech
targets and practice several times a
day. Informal strategies are suitable
for younger children and more formal
strategies can be used with older children of school age.
Collaboration Is Key
Success in working with children who
need a more remedial method of speechlanguage intervention is only possible with a cooperative effort between
professionals and parents/caregivers.
This starts and ends with the parents.
They know their child best and can
provide both abundant auditory input of
language and opportunities for the child
to use spoken language in daily life.
Audiologists, speech-language pathologists, teachers of the deaf, and Listening
and Spoken Language Specialists
(LSLS ®) have important roles to play in
both assessment and intervention. In
addition, for those children with additional special needs, other professionals,
such as occupational therapists, physical
therapists and feeding specialists, can be
valuable colleagues in helping the child
develop foundational skills that can support the acquisition of speech.
As a listening and spoken language
professional, I became more knowledgeable about oral motor intervention
by observing and learning from occupational therapists and other speechlanguage pathologists. However, I
would recommend that any oral motor
practice have an immediate application to speech. For example, work on
blowing should be immediately followed
by speech practice of unvoiced fricative
speech sounds, such as “h”, “th”, “f ”,
etc. The use of non-speech oral motor
exercises to improve speech has not been
supported by research. The current trend
is away from the practice of non-speech
oral motor movements toward those
that are more directly related to speech
production (Lof, 2006).
Cued Speech
Work with colleagues in Cued Speech
assisted me in teaching some students
who used Cued Speech, but needed
additional intervention to improve their
speech production skills. I found that
Ling’s model for speech development
worked very well with these students
(Perigoe & LeBlanc, 1994). I later used
this as a springboard for teaching a
child with a profound hearing loss who
was a late starter and also diagnosed
with autism spectrum disorder. After
receiving a cochlear implant, the child
was able to detect and process speech
through audition alone. However,
speech production remained a challenge
and the student found Cued Speech
confusing. My solution was to develop
a unique cueing system that made sense
to the student and that used a different
hand shape for each sound. The student’s speech became more intelligible
when self-cueing was used.
The Association Method
My supervision of graduate students
doing their practicum at Magnolia Speech
School in Jackson, Miss., has helped me
learn more about the Association Method
(Sullivan & Perigoe, 2004) and how it
is implemented at the school. Mildred
McGinnis developed the Association
Method in the 1920s and 1930s to work
with veterans who had suffered head
injuries and she later adapted the method
to work with children with hearing loss.
It is a multi-modality, remedial approach
with the goal of teaching children to
attend, process, store and retrieve spoken
and written language. It is used with
children who have been diagnosed with
certain speech and language disorders,
particularly those with childhood apraxia
of speech and those with reading disabilities. The method has also been used
with children who are deaf and hard of
hearing who are late starters or who have
additional special needs. Children learning with the Association Method each
have a personalized “sound book” for the
practice of speech sounds, which links
listening and speaking to phonics and
print. Clinical data indicate that students
using this method have shown improvement, but the approach needs more formal
research to evaluate its effectiveness. The
DuBard School for Language Disorders in
Hattiesburg, Miss., offers annual courses
for professionals interested in learning
about the Association Method.
Children who come to hearing late
and/or have additional special needs may
need a structured, remedial approach to
speech treatment. Ling’s model offers a
systematic approach to assessment and
intervention, which has a strong foundation in the use of audition to develop
speech skills. Teachers, therapists and
parents need to ask some key questions
when evaluating the child’s speech
program to ensure that optimal progress
is being made (see sidebar on page 26).
When working in collaborative teams,
professionals and parents can support
each other to individualize a child’s
speech program and make it both enjoyable and effective for the child.
Speech is a way to encode language
for spoken communication. Therefore,
practice of speech sounds or nonsense
syllables needs to be linked to meaning
in spoken language. In this way, the
child with hearing loss can use speech to
communicate information, ideas, desires
and feelings. Ultimately, speech becomes
successful for a child when it serves his/
her purpose of communicating with others. As Daniel Ling used to say, “When
a child asks for milk and gets it, that’s
its own reward. You don’t have to say
‘Good speech!’” And don’t forget to ask
the important question—“Are we having
fun yet?”
References
Cole, E. B., & Flexer, C. (2011). Children with
Hearing Loss: Developing Listening and Talking
– Birth to Six (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Plural
Publishing.
Daniel, L., & Ritter, K. (2012). What is the role of
the listening and spoken language professional
with children who have multiple challenges
and their families? In W. Estabrooks (Ed.), 101
Frequently Asked Questions About AuditoryVerbal Practice: Promoting Listening and Spoken
Language for Children Who Are Deaf and Hard
of Hearing and Their Families, (pp. 232-236).
Washington, DC: Alexander Graham Bell
Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
Gallaudet Research Institute (November 2008).
Regional and National Summary Report of
Data from the 2007-08 Annual Survey of Deaf
and Hard of Hearing Children and Youth.
Washington, DC: GRI, Gallaudet University.
Goldman, R., & Fristoe, M. (2000). Goldman-Fristoe
Test of Articulation-2 (GFTA-2). Circle Pines, MN:
Pearson.
Ling, D. (2006). The six-sound test. In W.
Estabrooks (Ed.). Auditory-Verbal Therapy
and Practice, (pp. 307-310). Washington, DC:
Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf
and Hard of Hearing.
Ling, D. (2002). Speech and the Hearing-Impaired
Child: Theory and Practice (2nd ed.). Washington,
DC: Alexander Graham Bell Association for the
Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
Ling, D. (1989). Foundations of Spoken Language
for Hearing-Impaired Children. Washington, DC:
Ling, D. (1976). Speech and the Hearing-Impaired
Child: Theory and Practice. Washington, DC:
Ling, D., & North, S. (2009). Ling Speech Cards. Los
Angeles, CA: John Tracy Clinic. Available through
John Tracy Clinic at http://www.jtc.org/uploads/
docs/LingSpeech_Cards_Flyer10_10.pdf
Lof, G. L. (2006). Logic, theory, and evidence
against using non-speech oral motor
exercises. ASHA Annual Convention, Miami
Beach. Convention presentation handout.
Retrieved September 12, 2013 from http://
www.speech-language therapy.com/index.
php?option=com_content&view=article&id=
49:readings&catid=11:admin&Itemid=108
Paden, E. P., & Brown, C. J. (1992). Identifying Early
Phonological Needs in Children with Hearing
Impairment. MED-EL.
Perigoe, C. (1992). Strategies for the remediation of
speech of hearing-impaired children. The Volta
Review, 94, 95-118.
Jackie Dowling
Perigoe, C., & LeBlanc, B. (1994). Cued speech
and the Ling speech model: Building blocks
for intelligible speech. Cued Speech Journal, V,
30-36.
Perigoe, C., & Ling, D. (1986). Generalization of
speech skills in hearing-impaired children. The
Volta Review, 98, 351-366.
Christina Perigoe and student: creating a listening environment for speech.
Sullivan, A., & Perigoe, C. (2004). The Association
Method for children with hearing loss and
special needs. The Volta Review, 104 (4)
339-348.
27
Trading
Signals:
My Decision
to Go Bilateral
with Cochlear
Implants
By Samuel R. Atcherson, Ph.D.
I
am a bilateral cochlear implant user,
but this wasn’t always the case. My
journey with cochlear implants began
at age 26 in 2001 when I was doing
my doctorate in audiology at the University
of Memphis.
My hearing loss, caused by large vestibular aqueducts, was one that became progressively worse as the years wore on. I needed
stronger and stronger hearing aids with each
change in my hearing. I wore many different
kinds of hearing aids to compensate. I experienced changes from analog hearing aids to
digitally-programmable analog ones to fully
digital hearing aids. With a caring family,
good educational support, speech therapy
and assistive listening devices (ALD) in the
28
classroom, I attended mainstream public
schools and succeeded academically. During
that time, even ALDs changed. I remember
when they were body worn, strapped around
my back with wires connected to earmolds.
In college, I used a much smaller ALD with
a telecoil loop.
While a freshman and sophomore
in college, two local audiologists who
managed my hearing aids encouraged
me to consider becoming an audiologist.
They knew I was a pre-medical technology major, but somehow they saw high
potential in me to make a difference in the
lives of others with hearing loss. After some
convincing, I switched majors, studied
communication sciences and disorders,
and eventually became an audiologist and
university professor.
My decision to pursue a cochlear
implant was not one that I made lightly. I
received my first cochlear implant from the
House Ear Clinic in Los Angeles, Calif.
Even as an audiologist in training at the
University of Memphis, I was dreadfully
afraid of the whole process.
Cochlear Implant
Considerations
Beyond the surgery, I knew that most, if
not all, residual hearing I had left in my
right ear would be gone or drastically
worse. Would the cochlear implant work?
What if it didn’t? As someone who enjoys
tion, hearing aids would never sound the
same. In fact, as I began considering a
cochlear implant for my right ear, it was clear
within the weeks and months that followed
that my hearing aids could not compensate
for the amount of hearing loss I had.
Although my audiogram was not showing much change, I felt that the hearing in
my left ear was functionally worse than it
had been in the past or that the demands
on my life were more challenging that I
needed a boost. Perhaps it was a little bit
of both. With two cochlear implants, I
thought about how I might have the ability
First Cochlear Implant
to localize sound and see some improveGetting the first cochlear implant in my
ment in my ability to understand speech in
right ear changed my life, literally. After
noisy environments. My wife, who is also an
two years of auditory training once or
twice a week, I regained my confidence and audiologist with hearing loss, supported my
decision to move forward and go bilateral.
was prepared well for a career as a uniWhen I made the conscious decision
versity professor and clinical audiologist.
to go bilateral, that feeling of being scared
I thank clinical faculty and graduate students of the Memphis Speech and Hearing returned. It didn’t matter that I had gone
through this once before and that everything
Clinic and an audiologist at the Memphis
turned out alright. What was forefront on my
Oral School for their help. During this
mind was the almost prophetic knowledge
time, I continued to wear a hearing aid
that I would be taking a few hearing steps
in my left ear and was still getting benefit
backward before things started looking up.
from it.
Even the thought that the cochlear
My brain learned to use the two different
implant would fail in my left ear went
signals from my cochlear implant and hearing aid. Yes, they sounded different, but they through my mind. With all my work
and family demands, I dreaded having to
complimented each other well. My hearing
aid delivered a rich, low pitch acoustic sound, suffer through a transitional period, and
I didn’t want anyone else to suffer for my
while my cochlear implant through electric
stimulation delivered that crisp, clean, higher choices either. I had control over getting a
second cochlear implant; but I did not have
pitch sound that made speech pop out.
control over my hearing in my left ear.
My cochlear implant made certain sounds
audible again that I had long forgotten about. With that mental crossroad, I forged ahead
and made appointments to obtain cochlear
I operated this way for 11 years, but I
implant candidacy.
knew deep down inside that the hearing
in my left ear would eventually get worse.
I certainly did not expect it to take as long The Cochlear
as it did. Year after year, people would ask, Implant Process
“Have you considered going bilateral?” My I already had years of knowledge that my
answer was usually, “Yes, I have considered left ear hearing status was well within
going bilateral, but I don’t feel any need
the criteria for cochlear implantation and
to
get
a
second
one
right
now.
My
hearing
I knew from the first CT scan back in
playing the piano and guitar, I worried that
isn’t any better or any worse and I’m happy 2001 that my left cochlea would be fine to
music would never sound good again.
with my life as it is.”
implant. Nevertheless, another medical
In spite of my profound hearing loss,
consultation with an otologist and compreI felt I did well with my hearing aids and
hensive hearing evaluation with an audispeechreading skills. However, I felt for the Decision to Go Bilateral
first time in my life that I was struggling in I do not really remember the exact moment, ologist was necessary to start the process.
Although I’m no stranger to audiology
the classroom. I could pass courses by read- or if there ever was a moment, when the
and otology because of my lifelong hearing
ing and studying material outside of class,
seeds of going bilateral were planted.
loss and my chosen profession, I have always
but my understanding and comprehension
Sometime late in 2011 or early 2012, I
of the material during class time was not the began reflecting on my hearing loss journey enjoyed being on the other side of the fence.
Rather than project my own professional
same as it seemed previously. Plus, there was and my life. During the time of being a
knowledge too much into the process, I
also the threat of not being able to practice
bimodal cochlear implant and hearing aid
let my cochlear implant surgeon at the
comfortably and confidently as an audiolouser, I received my Ph.D. in audiology,
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
gist upon graduation. These were my own
worked at two different universities, got
and my audiologist at Arkansas Children’s
concerns and worries, not anyone else’s.
married and had two children. The more I
Unlike hearing aids, you can’t try differthought about it, the more I began to realize Hospital do what I knew they already did
best. I gave them my full trust, and I knew
ent cochlear implants. Following implantathat the demands in my life had changed.
Erin Dawson
Sam with his wife, Rebecca Atcherson (left)
and his cochlear implant audiologist,
Dr. Jordan King (right).
29
Bilateral Electric
Hearing
On October 9, 2012, I became, officially, a
bilateral cochlear implant user. That is, I had
gone about three weeks wearing only the
new left cochlear implant to give my audiologist time to tune my map specifically for
my left ear, and to give my brain a little time
to figure out what this new signal was. Even
though I knew better, I secretly hoped that
getting the left cochlear implant would be
easy, like turning on a light bulb. After all,
my brain had 11 years to learn how to interpret electric signals from a cochlear implant.
Instead, my hearing initially was worse than
with my hearing aid, and nowhere near what
I could accomplish with my right cochlear
implant. It was depressing, but at least I was
familiar with the experience. It happened
just the same as 11 years before.
What was different this time was the
perception that everything was now too loud
or annoying. With my first cochlear implant,
one of the first things I noticed was greater
sound awareness and detection. Whispers,
my clothes crinkling with every move, the
scuffle of feet, and chimes and beeps around
me. Although I couldn’t always tell what I
was hearing, I was impressed and fascinated
with the sounds I was hearing for a second
time as an adult. They had faded from my
life long ago as a young child.
With the second implant, my focus
wasn’t on sound awareness and detection.
Rather, I envisioned clarity of sound and
30 Rebecca Atcherson
that they would return the favor by providing me with information that is given to
all patients and their families. Although I
was always well aware of the steps I needed
to take from surgery to recovery and from
activation to rehabilitation, I appreciated
that they made no assumptions with me
because of my professional background.
The surgery went better than I
expected, and I went home the same day
of the surgery. After the first surgery,
it took me a lot longer to come out of
anesthesia and I had this horrible feeling
in my head every time I moved that felt
like that sensation after hitting your funny
bone. Fortunately, that funny bone feeling
did not last more than a couple of hours.
Nevertheless, the transition—trading signals from acoustic hearing to electric hearing in both ears—was finally complete.
Sam and his cochlear implant surgeon, Dr. John Dornhoffer.
had a strong expectation of experiencing the
harmony and oneness of the two cochlear
implants working seamlessly together.
What I got was two clearly different sounds
in each ear and confusion in my brain.
For several months, every time my
daughters laughed, screamed or cried, or
something in the environment was loud, I
wanted to cringe and escape. Being annoyed
made my blood pressure rise to the point that
I had a short fuse and was overly anxious.
It wasn’t the maps or the adjustments my
audiologist made for me. It was a battle in my
brain. I pictured this as a highway operation
involving new roads, exits and detours from
my left ear to the auditory areas in my brain,
and contractual handshakes and agreements
of countless neurons connected to each ear
for shared resources. Each day and month
became easier and easier, and sounds were
less harsh with increasingly greater balance
between the two ears. More importantly, my
irritability began to dissipate.
Life with Two
Cochlear Implants
At the time of this writing, I am one year
post-activation for my left ear and 12 years
post-activation for my right ear. Getting
the cochlear implant is a process, a journey.
I am reminded that there is never really a
good time to get a cochlear implant. You
just have to do it. I’m feeling good, and I do
not regret my decision to pursue bilateral
cochlear implants, even if they were 11
years apart, each with rocky starts.
It’s the little things that bring a smile to
my face. I love it when I hear a sound and
look in the direction from where it came. I
am amazed at how less tired I am at the end
of the day because I am not straining to hear
or listen. Now, when I’m tired, it’s because
I’m physically tired from manual labor or
mentally tired from a long day at work.
Listening in noise is a little easier than
it was before, but far from perfect. Since
I know that plenty of people with typical
hearing have their struggles in noisy environments at times, I don’t really expect
listening in noise to be perfect anymore.
Music is different now, and in an exciting
way. Before my cochlear implants, music
was essentially flat sounding and it was
pretty difficult to tell the vocals apart from
the musical instruments. Although I still
can’t make out the lyrics to a song without
seeing the lyrics on paper, I am amazed that
I can pick out more instruments and musical
nuances that I had not noticed before.
Speaking of music, I love it when I can
communicate in the car with my 5-yearold daughter who is my co-pilot in the
backseat. I can’t always understand her
little high-pitched voice without looking
at her from time to time, but whenever
she starts singing a song, my heart melts.
And my 21-month-old daughter, whose
language is emerging, is a joy to listen to
as she sounds out words and mimics the
sounds she hears around her.
The remaining challenge for me is
adapting and learning to use the phone
in my left ear with a new signal, even if I
can always use my right ear. My right ear
could use the break. After all, it did get 12
years of practice.
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diagnosed her da
ughter Ali at th
e age of 10 mon
with a profound
ths
hearing loss and
predicted she
would never spea
k, but the doctor
s underestimated
this unbeatable
mother-daughter
te
am. Wendy ’s
dedication and dr
ive, paired with
Ali’s hard work
and determinatio
n, produced one
spunky, confident
“chatterbox” and
two passionate ad
vocates for the
deaf and hard of
hearing. Be sure
to
visit Wendy and
Almigal at www
.wendykupfer.com
.
al yet?
g
i
m
l
A
t
e
Have you m
PRAISE FOR LET’S HEAR IT FOR ALMIGAL
“ Let’s Hear It For Almigal shines a spotlight on children
with hearing loss and reminds young readers to celebrate
their differences, while nurturing self-esteem. Beautifully
illustrated, this is a book that children will want to read again
and again.” Lee Woodruff, NY Times Bestselling Author and
CBS This Morning Contributor
“A children’s picturebook with a powerful message...not to be
missed for picturebook collections focusing on disabilities.”
The Midwest Book Review
“Beautifully illustrated by Tammie Lyon...It’s easy to identify
with Almigal, a child full of energy, enthusiasm, and
mischief.” ForeWord Review
5% of sa
les
d ea f c h i s u p p o r t s
ldren
M
aughter
“Cheerful inclusiveness...celebrates uniqueness, while the
delightful, fullpage illustrations show the lively heroine and
her friends and family enjoying their differences...charming
story.” Kirkus Reviews
“Almigal is a delightful child whose attitude about life and not
letting even a morsel of it pass her by, is totally endearing. I
am a big proponent of celebrating differences, and Almigal’s
appreciation of the diversity among her friends presents an
ideal model for both parents and children.”
Dr. Dale V. Atkins, a licensed psychologist and popular
commentator on NBC’s Today Show and author of Sanity Savers
Contact Wendy Kupfer at [email protected]
or 561-654-8680.
Meet Almigal, a spunky little girl with
a BIG personality who’s determined to
hear “every single sound in the whole entire
universe!” But most of all, Almigal wants to
hear her Mommy and Daddy whisper “We love
you, Almigal” when they tuck her into bed at
night. Almigal’s spirit and her cotton-candy
pink cochlear implants will have everyone
shouting “Let’s Hear It For Almigal!”
Available through Small Press United (a division of IPG), Amazon,
Barnes&Nobel, Ingram, Baker &Taylor and almigal.com
ISBN: 978-0-9838294-0-9
Señales de
operación:
Mi decisión
para colocarme
implantes
cocleares
bilaterales
Por Samuel R. Atcherson, Ph.D.
S
oy usuario de implantes cocleares
bilaterales, pero esto no fue siempre
así. Mi trayectoria con implantes
cocleares empezó a los 26 años
en el 2001 cuando estaba haciendo mi
doctorado de audiología en la Universidad
de Memphis.
Mi pérdida auditiva, provocada por mis
acueductos vestibulares aumentados, fue
la que me hizo empeorar progresivamente
a medida que transcurrían los años.
Necesitaba audífonos más potentes a
medida que se producía un cambio en
la audición. Utilicé diferentes tipos de
audífonos para lograr compensarla.
Experimenté cambios con lo que utilicé
desde audífonos analógicos hasta
32 analógicos programables digitalmente
y audífonos totalmente digitales. Con
el cuidado de mi familia, un buen
apoyo educativo, una terapia del habla y
dispositivos de audición asistida (ALD,
por sus siglas en inglés) en la clase, pude
asistir a escuelas públicas convencionales
y alcanzar el éxito académicamente.
Durante este tiempo, incluso cambiaron
los ALD. Recuerdo cuando se colocaban
por el cuerpo, con cables por la espalda
conectados a los moldes del oído. En la
universidad, utilicé un ALD mucho más
pequeño con un loop de telebobina.
Durante mi primer y segundo año en
la universidad, dos audiólogos locales
que gestionaban mis audífonos me
animaron a que considerase la posibilidad
de ser audiólogo. Sabían que estaba en la
especialidad de la tecnología premédica,
pero de alguna manera encontraron un
gran potencial en mí y creyeron que podría
cambiar la situación de las vidas de otros
individuos con pérdida auditiva. Después
de unas charlas convincentes, cambié
de especialidad, estudié ciencias de la
comunicación y trastornos comunicativos
y finalmente me convertí en audiólogo y
profesor de la universidad.
Mi decisión de adquirir un implante
coclear no fue una decisión que tomé a la
ligera. Recibí mi primer implante coclear
de House Ear Clinic en Los Ángeles,
California. Aunque era un audiólogo en
embargo, por primera vez en mi vida sentí
que estaba luchando en clase. Podía pasarme
el curso leyendo y estudiando el material
fuera de clase, pero mi entendimiento y
comprensión del material durante la clase
no era la misma que al principio. Además,
también estaba el miedo de no ser capaz de
practicar con comodidad y confianza como
audiólogo después de la graduación. Estas
eran mis preocupaciones e inquietudes, de
nadie más.
A diferencia de los audífonos, no
puedes probarte diferentes implantes
cocleares. Después del implante, los
audífonos nunca sonarán igual. De hecho,
cuando empecé a tener en cuenta un
implante coclear para el oído derecho, fue
cuando era evidente que con el paso de las
semanas y de los meses mis audífonos no
podrían compensar la cantidad de pérdida
auditiva que había tenido.
Primer implante coclear
Erin Dawson
Al hacerme el primer implante coclear
en el oído derecho, cambió mi vida,
literalmente. Después de dos años de
entrenamiento auditivo una o dos veces
a la semana, recuperé la confianza y
ya estaba bien preparado para realizar
una carrera de profesor universitario y
audiólogo clínico. Agradezco a la facultad
clínica y a los estudiantes graduados de la
Speech and Hearing Clinic de Memphis
y a un audiólogo del Oral School de
Memphis por su ayuda. Durante este
tiempo, continué utilizando un audífono
en el oído izquierdo ya que aún seguía
obteniendo beneficios de él.
Mi cerebro aprendía a utilizar las dos
señales
diferentes del implante coclear y
formación en la Universidad de Memphis,
del audífono. Sí, suenan diferentes, pero se
tenía pánico de todo el proceso.
complementan perfectamente. El audífono
Cosas que hay que tener emitía un sonido acústico grave y rico,
en cuenta en un implante mientras que el implante coclear mediante
la estimulación eléctrica emitía un sonido
coclear
agudo, claro y nítido que hacía que saliese el
Más allá de la cirugía, sabía que la mayor
habla. El implante coclear volvía a producir
parte, si no toda, de la audición residual que
algunos sonidos audibles de los que ya hacía
aún conservaba en el oído derecho podría
tiempo que me había olvidado.
perderla o podría ir a peor drásticamente.
Me manejé de este modo durante 11
¿Funcionaría el implante coclear? ¿Y si no
años, pero en mi fuero interno sabía que la
funcionaba? Como alguien que disfruta
tocando el piano y la guitarra, me preocupaba audición del oído izquierdo estaba yendo
a peor. Realmente no esperaba que fuese
que no pudiese volver a oír la música.
A pesar de mi profunda pérdida auditiva, a durar tanto tiempo como lo hizo. Año
tras año la gente me preguntaba: “¿Has
sentía que había acertado con los audífonos
barajado la opción de colocarte un implante
y mis habilidades para leer los labios. Sin
bilateral?”. Mi respuesta siempre era: “Sí, he
barajado esa opción, pero de momento no
siento la necesidad de ponerme el segundo.
Mi audición no es mejor ni peor y estoy feliz
como es mi vida ahora”.
Decisión de colocarse
un implante bilateral
Realmente no recuerdo el momento exacto o
si hubo un momento en el que se sembraron
las semillas para colocarme el implante
bilateral. En algún momento de finales
del 2011 o principios del 2012, empecé a
reflexionar acerca de la trayectoria de mi
pérdida auditiva y de mi vida. Durante el
momento en el que tuve un implante coclear
bimodal y fui un usuario de audífonos,
conseguí doctorarme en audiología, trabajé
en dos universidades diferentes, me casé y
tuve dos hijos. Cuanto más pensaba en eso,
más me daba cuenta de que las demandas en
mi vida habían cambiado.
Aunque mi audiograma no mostraba
muchos cambios, sentía que la audición en
mi oído izquierdo era peor funcionalmente
de lo que lo había sido en el pasado o que las
demandas de mi vida eran más exigentes y
que lo necesitaba desesperadamente. Quizás
era un poco de ambos. Con dos implantes
cocleares, pensaba acerca de cómo podría
tener la capacidad para localizar sonidos y
ver mejoras en mi capacidad para entender
el habla en entornos ruidosos. Mi esposa,
que también es una audióloga con pérdida
auditiva, apoyaba mi decisión de avanzar y
colocarme un implante bilateral.
Cuando tomé la decisión consciente de
colocarme el otro implante, volví a sentirme
asustado. No importaba que ya hubiese
pasado por eso una vez y que todo había ido
bien. Lo primero en lo que pensaba era en el
conocimiento profético de que tendría que
retroceder unos pasos en la audición antes
de que las cosas empezasen a mejorar.
Incluso pensaba en que el implante
coclear podría fallar en el oído izquierdo.
Con todas las demandas laborales y
familiares, temía tener que pasar por un
período de transición y no quería que
nadie sufriese por mis elecciones. Tenía
el control sobre hacerme un segundo
implante coclear, pero no tenía el control
sobre la audición del oído izquierdo. Con
esta encrucijada mental, seguí adelante
y concerté citas para conseguir ser un
candidato para el implante coclear.
33
El proceso del implante
coclear
Ya hace años que sé que el estado del oído
izquierdo está bien dentro del criterio de
los implantes cocleares y desde mi primer
escáner CT del 2001 supe que la cóclea
izquierda está lista para el implante. No
obstante, fue necesaria otra consulta médica
con un otorrino y realizar una evaluación
completa de la audición con un audiólogo
para iniciar el proceso.
Aunque no desconozco la audiología
y la otología debido a mi pérdida auditiva
permanente, siempre me ha gustado
estar en el otro lado de la cerca. En lugar
de proyectar mi propio conocimiento
personal en el proceso, dejé que mi
cirujano de implantes cocleares de
Ciencias Médicas de la Universidad de
Arkansas y mi audiólogo del Hospital
Infantil de Arkansas hiciesen lo que sabía
que iban a hacer. Confié totalmente en
ellos y sabía que me devolverían el favor
proporcionándome la información que
se les da a todos los pacientes y a sus
familiares. Aunque siempre fui plenamente
consciente de los pasos que tenía que dar
desde la cirugía hasta la recuperación y
desde la activación hasta la rehabilitación,
aprecié que no hubiesen hecho hipótesis
conmigo debido a mi formación
profesional.
La cirugía fue mejor de lo que esperaba
y volví a casa el mismo día. Después de la
primera cirugía, me costó más salir de la
anestesia y tenía una sensación horrible en
la cabeza cada vez que la movía que es como
lo que sientes después de golpearte el hueso
del codo. Afortunadamente, esa sensación
no dura más de un par de horas. No
obstante, la transición (señales de operación
desde la audición acústica a la audición
eléctrica en ambos oídos) se completó
finalmente.
Audición eléctrica
bilateral
El 9 de octubre del 2012, me convertí
oficialmente en un usuario de implante
coclear bilateral. Me pasé tres semanas
llevando solamente el nuevo implante
coclear izquierdo para darle tiempo
a mi audiólogo para que sintonice
específicamente el mapa para el oído
izquierdo y así darle un poco de tiempo
a mi cerebro para que averiguase que era
34 esa nueva señal. Aunque lo sabía mejor,
secretamente esperaba que colocar el
implante coclear izquierdo fuese fácil, como
encender una bombilla. Después de todo
mi cerebro estuvo 11 años aprendiendo
cómo interpretar las señales eléctricas de un
implante coclear. En cambio, al principio
mi audición fue peor que con el audífono,
no se pareció para nada a lo que pude
lograr con el implante coclear derecho.
Fue deprimente, pero al menos estaba
familiarizado con la experiencia. Ocurrió lo
mismo que hace 11 años atrás.
Lo que esta vez fue diferente fue
la percepción de que ahora todo era
demasiado ruidoso y molesto. Con el
primer implante coclear, una de las
primeras cosas de las que me di cuenta
fue el mayor reconocimiento y detección
del sonido. Susurros, el movimiento de
la ropa, los pasos, las campanadas y los
pitidos que me rodeaban. Aunque no
siempre sabía lo que estaba escuchando,
estaba impresionado y fascinado con los
sonidos que estaba oyendo por segunda vez
como un adulto. Habían desaparecido de
mi vida hacía mucho tiempo desde que era
un niño.
Con el segundo implante, no me centré
en el reconocimiento y la detección del
sonido. En su lugar, concebí la claridad
del sonido y tenía grandes expectativas
de sentir la armonía y la singularidad de
los dos implantes cocleares funcionando
simultáneamente. Lo que conseguí fueron
dos sonidos claramente diferentes en cada
oído y confusión en el cerebro.
Durante varios meses, cada vez que mis
hijas reían, gritaban o lloraban o si algo en
el entorno producía un ruido fuerte, quería
esconderme y escapar. Al estar enfadado,
la presión arterial aumentó hasta el punto
de que tenía pequeñas rabietas y estaba
demasiado ansioso. No fueron los mapas
o los ajustes que hizo mi audiólogo. Fue la
batalla en mi cerebro. Lo representaba como
una autopista con carreteras nuevas, salidas
y desvíos desde el oído izquierdo a las áreas
auditivas del cerebro y apretones de manos
contractuales y acuerdos de innumerables
neuronas conectadas a cada oído para
compartir recursos. Cada día y cada mes
era más sencillo, los sonidos fueron menos
bruscos y los dos oídos se iban equilibrando.
Lo que es más importante, mi irritabilidad
empezó a desaparecer.
La vida con dos
implantes cocleares
En el momento de redactar este artículo,
hace un año que activé el oído izquierdo
y 12 que activé el derecho. Colocarse
un implante coclear es un proceso, una
trayectoria. Nunca es un buen momento
para colocarse un implante coclear. Solo
tienes que hacerlo. Me siento bien y no me
arrepiento por haber tomado la decisión de
colocarme implantes cocleares bilaterales,
incluso si fue hace 11 años, a pesar de los
duros comienzos.
Son las pequeñas cosas que hacen
que aparezca una sonrisa en mi cara. Me
encanta cuando escucho un sonido y veo en
la dirección de donde viene. Me sorprende
lo menos cansado que me siento al final del
día porque no tengo que esforzarme para oír
o escuchar. Ahora, cuando estoy cansado, es
porque estoy físicamente cansado por una
labor manual o mentalmente cansado por
un largo día de trabajo.
Escuchar con ruido es un poco más fácil
que antes, pero está lejos de ser perfecto.
Desde que supe que muchas personas con
una audición normal tienen que esforzarse
a veces en entornos ruidosos, realmente no
espero escuchar con ruido para ser perfecto.
Ahora la música es diferente, divertida.
Antes de los implantes cocleares, la música
era esencialmente un sonido plano y era
muy difícil discernir las vocales aparte de
los instrumentos musicales. Aunque aún
no puedo sacar la letra de una canción sin
ver la letra en papel, estoy sorprendido de
que puedo diferenciar más instrumentos y
matices musicales de lo que nunca antes me
había dado cuenta.
Hablando de música, me encanta cuando
me puedo comunicar en el coche con mi hija
de 5 años que es mi copiloto en el asiento
trasero. Nunca pude entender su pequeña
voz aguda sin verla de vez en cuando, pero
ahora siempre que empieza a cantar una
canción, mi corazón se derrite. Con mi hija
de 21 meses, que está aprendiendo a hablar,
es un placer escuchar cómo pronuncia
palabras y cómo hace la mímica de los
sonidos que escucha a su alrededor.
Mi último desafío es adaptarme y
aprender a utilizar un teléfono con el oído
izquierdo con una nueva señal, aunque
siempre puedo utilizar el oído derecho. Mi
oído derecho podría descansar. Después de
todo, tiene 12 años de práctica.
LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES FOR TEENS (LOFT) 2014
LOFT
is for high school students who are deaf and hard of hearing and use listening and
spoken language as their primary mode of communication. This four-day sleep-away
program is designed for participants to develop skills in individual leadership,
teamwork, understanding group dynamics and communication, public speaking,
and self-advocacy. The program provides a supportive and structured environment in
which participants increase their self-confidence and understanding of their own
strengths and abilities through activities designed to challenge them to work outside
of their comfort zone. LOFT is a great opportunity for high school and college-bound
teens interested in a leadership experience away from home with their peers.
,,
At LOFT I grew out
of my quiet shell and I
learned to embrace who I
am. This experience helped
me gain confidence and
taught me not to take a
back seat in everything.
,,
,,
LOFT was amazing.
I met a lot of great
people who could relate
to me. The counselors
were encouraging and
entertaining. I left LOFT
feeling more confident
in myself and better
prepared for the
‘grown up’ world.
,,
Two sessions are being planned in Orlando, Florida.
JULY 1-5, 2014 JULY 7-11, 2014
Information and an application packet are available on the AG Bell website at www.ListeningandSpokenLanguage.org/LOFT
Applications
are due
February 26, 2014.
LOFT in Action:
Voices of
Leadership
By Anna Karkovska McGlew, M.A., and Wendy Will
T
he Leadership Opportunities
for Teens (LOFT) program is
one of AG Bell’s most popular,
established and transformative
programs. It provides teens who are deaf
and hard of hearing with opportunities
and experiences that build their confidence and develop their leadership and
self-advocacy skills—possibly for the first
time in their lives.
Since its founding in 1996, LOFT
has served nearly 300 teens, with half of
those in the last five years. In a safe and
supportive environment, they learn about
communication and self-advocacy through
individual, small team and full group
activities designed to challenge them in
36 stepping outside their comfort zone to
discover not only new skills and abilities
but also build the confidence to navigate
life independently. LOFT teens often tell
AG Bell staff and volunteer counselors
that, within weeks of returning home, they
are already using skills and knowledge they
learned during the program.
Expansion and New
Leadership Activities
This year in the summer, two sessions of
LOFT were conducted in Los Angeles, Calif.
As a pilot, in order to test some new programming ideas, the program was expanded
from four to five days, which gave each group
of teens the opportunity to work together on
a project that challenged them to articulate
and showcase their leadership skills.
The second group of LOFT participants
developed and facilitated a two-and-halfhour “Teens & Tweens” program for middle school students who are deaf and hard
of hearing and their parents. The program,
which drew 35 individuals, was extremely
well-received, especially by the parents and
was the perfect venue to test some ideas
about serving middle school students who
are deaf and hard of hearing.
The LOFT teens developed the content
for the program entirely on their own, while
the framework for the event was conceptualized by AG Bell staff and LOFT’s volunteer
counselors in partnership with the Training
About LOFT
Teens on one of the panels during
the “Teens and Tweens” program
answer questions from parents in
the audience. Panel left to right:
Miranda Meyers, moderator,
Ryne Beachley, Cate Senior, Ravi
Malpani and David Mooney.
Photos by Matthew Browne
The Leadership Opportunities for
Teens (LOFT) program is a multi-day
program for high-school teens who
are deaf and hard of hearing and
use listening and spoken language
to communicate. LOFT is a structured and supportive environment in
which teens increase their self-confidence and understanding of their
own strengths and leadership skills
through individual and team-based
activities designed to challenge
them. The curriculum is designed to
develop skills in the areas of leadership, teamwork, communication,
and Advocacy Group (TAG) based in Los
Angeles, which promoted the “Teens &
Tweens” program to their contacts and network of individuals and organizations in the
Los Angeles area from April through July.
This project demonstrated what LOFT
is about—providing specific, tangible
opportunities for the LOFT teens to
develop into confident leaders, effective
advocates and inspirational role models.
as the audience and one aimed at their
parents. For each of the next several days,
the teens spent a few hours refining their
presentations, simulating questions and
practicing for each of the programs.
On the morning of the event, the
LOFT teens—easily identifiable with
their LOFT T-shirts—welcomed guests
as they arrived. After introductions and
housekeeping issues were taken care of,
the teens took over, confidently leading
each group—tweens and their parents—
to their meeting location where they
launched each program.
Parent Takeaways
The teens who worked with the parents of
the tweens began by presenting a specific
challenge they had personally faced as well
as one way they advocated for themselves
to manage or meet that challenge. “I
learned that my 11-year-old daughter will
be okay, and how important it is for me to
Go-Time
Upon learning about their LOFT project,
the teens swung into action. They dove
right into brainstorming ideas for the
program, splitting into two groups—one
focusing on the middle school students
public speaking and self-advocacy.
Activities, discussions and even free
time is designed to encourage teens
to share ideas, build trust in and
respect for each other, understand
cultural and personal differences,
and celebrate their own abilities.
The key leaders for LOFT are adults
with hearing loss who help plan the
program and serve as counselors
and role models for teens in the
program. Information about LOFT
2014 will be posted on the AG Bell
Knowledge Center in December
2013.
teach her to advocate for herself,” commented one parent.
Next, the teens divided into several
panels—each focused on a general area
such as sports, academics and self-advocacy. Each panel gave a brief presentation
on that topic and then took questions from
the parent audience. “The LOFT participants were excellent and the panels were
awesome. They discussed topics that are
relevant to what my son is experiencing
right now,” noted a parent.
The last piece of this program was
a “meet and greet” giving parents the
opportunity to talk individually with
one or more LOFT teens. The teens had
prepared a poster that presented at-a-glance
each teen and the areas in which they had
experience such as marching band, chess
club, athletics, travel, language (Arabic,
German, Spanish and French), etc.
One parent spoke for many in the room
when she said: “The teens sharing their
Video Project
The first group of LOFT teens was
tasked with developing short videos to be used as resources on the
AG Bell website for other teens and
pre-teens with hearing loss and their
parents. With great enthusiasm and
confidence, the teens identified topics that they—as teens who are deaf
and hard of hearing—find challenging. The teens then split into several
small groups so each group could
focus on a specific situation and
brainstormed for tips or strategies for
managing these situations. The teens
spent a few hours every day refining
their ideas, tips and scripts, planning
the presentation, selecting their wardrobes, and finding or creating props
they would use in the videos. These
videos are now posted on the AG
Bell Listening and Spoken Language
Knowledge Center as a resource for
teens and pre-teens, their parents
and teachers. Check them out at
ListeningandSpokenLanguage.org/
TeenTips.
37
personal experience helped a lot with my
concerns for my child. I also received
information that I did not even know
existed. The ‘meet and greet’ was awesome.
I loved seeing the different personalities
and how the teens carried themselves with
such great confidence.”
“While answering the parent’s questions, I felt like my opinion was valued. It
made me feel good that people wanted to
depend on me and my experiences,” said
Ravi Malpani, a LOFT 2013 participant.
Parents came away from the event with
many insights and tips on how to help their
tweens with hearing loss be more independent. “The most important thing I learned
is that I don’t have to have all the answers; I
just have to continue to support my son so he
can achieve his goals,” concluded one parent.
Caroline Quinn, 2013 LOFTee, interacts with one of the parent attendees.
Find What You Love
LOFT 2013 participant Ruben Ramanathan talks about his technology with a parent.
Similar to the parent group, the teens
working with the middle school students
began by discussing a challenge they had
each faced as well as one way they advocated for themselves to manage or meet
that challenge. Then, the LOFT teens had
the tweens introduce themselves, followed
with a dynamic mix of team activities,
Q&A, discussions about high school, challenges and self-advocacy.
High school is a new experience and a
different environment from middle school:
children become more independent from
their parents and develop into their own,
but this means they need to advocate for
themselves and become more involved.
The session gave tweens practical advice
on succeeding in high school: “Don’t
procrastinate! If you have homework or
an essay that’s due later this week or next
week, make sure you complete it before it’s
due,” advised a LOFT teen.
Great Advice
“The important thing is to always follow your heart. Don’t let anybody – not even
your parents or your friends – take away or discourage your dreams. And don’t let
your own inner voices or doubts drown out your passion. There
are three things you can control – you can control your mind, you
Mind
can control your body and you can control your heart. And if you
Body
combine these three things together, you will find what you love.”
Heart
38 – Daniel Chang, 2013 LOFT participant
Navigating the social scene in high
school is challenging for any teen with or
without hearing loss. “There will be people
who don’t like or respect you. That’s okay.
Choose to spend time with people who
like and accept you for who you are,” commented a LOFT participant.
Above all, LOFT teens encouraged
the tweens to aim high for their goals and
dreams. One participant summed it up:
“You can do anything you want. Your
hearing loss shouldn’t stop you from joining
clubs or sports you want to play. Be involved.
Use this opportunity to meet lots of people
and learn what you are good at (and what
you’re not good at), and what you love to do.
This is a good way of finding yourself.”
Giving Is Receiving
The Teens and Tweens program was
rewarding for everyone involved, including the LOFT teens themselves. One of
the core purposes of LOFT is to demonstrate to the teen participants that they
have what they need to succeed in the real
world beyond high school. What they
may have needed is the confidence in their
own abilities and skills, which LOFT as a
program is so good at cultivating.
One of the best ways to build one’s confidence is to realize that your experience matters. “What I loved most about the “Teens
and Tweens” program was that I felt like I
had an impact on someone else’s life, and
that was the first time I was really proud of
LOFT teens talk with parents during the “meet and greet” portion of the “Teens & Tweens” event.
my hearing loss. Instead of just dealing with
it, I learned to embrace it,” said Caroline
Quinn, LOFT 2013 participant.
By empowering the tweens and their
parents for the transition from middle to
high school, the LOFT teens gained insight
about themselves: “My favorite part about
developing it was having to think about how
LOFT 2013 teen Mimi Steiger talks with a parent at the “Teens & Tweens” event.
I advocate for myself in real life—it helped
me realize how I really need to advocate
more. I had a lot of fun hearing everyone’s
ideas and being creative about how we presented information,” said Miranda Meyers,
a LOFT 2013 participant. A lot of teens discovered that they enjoyed public speaking!
The experience allowed LOFT teens to
generate ideas about future advocacy activities. “I discovered that I can inspire younger
people and help them see it’s okay to be
different,” said JJ McCou. “It’s awesome to
know that people look up to us. I want to
take that and use it to help other kids who
are deaf,” added Miranda Meyers.
The LOFT counselors observed that
the LOFT teens truly shine when they
are leading. When asked to step up and
lead, these teens developed a program for
middle school students with hearing loss
and their parents, revealing what they are
capable of to themselves and others.
While this specific program may or
may not be repeated in the near future,
AG Bell staff and LOFT counselors gained
a lot of valuable information that will
inform the development of materials and
resources for middle school students who
are deaf and hard of hearing, their parents
and teachers.
39
Ken Levinson:
The LOFT Counselor Perspective
Interview by Christina Perigoe, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, CED, LSLS Cert. AVT
K
en Levinson, lead counselor and
co-founder of LOFT, provides
an historical perspective on
the program and his thoughts
on its impact and future in this interview
conducted by Christina Perigoe, Ph.D.,
CCC-SLP, CED, LSLS Cert. AVT.
Christina Perigoe (CP): What is the
LOFT program and what do you see as
its major goals?
Ken Levinson (KL): LOFT, or
Leadership Opportunities for Teens, is
designed to help high school students
who are deaf and hard of hearing build
leadership skills and develop the confi-
40 dence to navigate a variety of real world
situations. We believe many of the teens
have the skill set to thrive in the real
world and accomplish great things, but
LOFT helps them develop the confidence and motivation to do so.
LOFT counselors:
Nate Paterson, Ken Levinson,
Catharine McNally and Kevin Meirose.
started to have LOFT every year. Since
2012, we are offering the program twice a
year. The most recent session in July 2013
gave us the opportunity to explore new and
expanded programming, which we may be
able to consider in the future as funding
becomes available to do so.
CP: Can you tell me a little bit about the
history of the LOFT program and how
long you have been involved in it?
CP: How have you seen the LOFT
program change over the years?
KL: With help from Donna Dickman,
then executive director of AG Bell, I
started LOFT in 1996 at the Snowbird
Convention in Utah. From then until
2008, we had LOFT every other year
during AG Bell conventions. In 2009, we
KL: There have been a few significant
changes. One is technology. It has really
made inroads in the communication abilities of the LOFT participants. The LOFT
teens today are much more reliant on
listening and their spoken language skills
Wendy Will
are amazing. Most of the teens can even
hear better than I can.
A second change is the nature of assimilation of the LOFT teens. When we first
started, almost all of the participants stated
their major role model was their parents or
other members of their family. Today, the
teens tell us about all kinds of role models,
including athletes, famous artists, literary
characters, friends, and yes, parents and
members of the family.
This leads me to a third major change:
the activities in which the teens participate in their mainstream environments.
We are seeing more and more activities in
mainstream environments where the participants are engaged in a variety of “clubs”
or “teams,” ranging from sports to arts to
farm groups to science clubs, etc.
others, of course. A few have even looked me
up when they’ve been in San Francisco. And
as you might guess, I always look forward to
seeing LOFTees at AG Bell conventions!
Some LOFTees also stay in touch with
their LOFT counselors and with various
AG Bell staff members. We often hear
of LOFTees’ activities and achievements
through Facebook and the grapevine.
In 2010, we did a Volta Voices article
in the January/February issue following up with four LOFTees from various
classes—it’s still one of my favorite articles and one I point people to as a good
way to learn about the impact LOFT can
have. As an organization, AG Bell would
like to improve the communication with
past LOFT participants; it’s a topic we’ll
be discussing this fall.
CP: What do you see as the most important contribution that LOFT makes to
the lives of these young people?
CP: What has been some of your feedback from the young people who have
come through the LOFT program?
KL: LOFT has consistently changed the
lives of these teens as evidenced by the
feedback we have gotten from both the teens
and parents. When these young individuals
come together during LOFT, two things
invariably happen.
First, they gain the confidence to be
themselves and to accept their hearing loss
as a part of who they are, but not the defining part of who they are. As I mentioned
earlier, these teens have the skills to be
leaders and to advocate for themselves, but
LOFT gives them the confidence to do so.
Second, and probably the most important benefit, is the development of lifetime
friendships with 19 other teens who
“get it.” Every LOFT kid is immediately
accepted into the group and no explanations are needed in terms of communication or other “hearing loss” related items.
AG Bell sets up a private Facebook page
for each LOFT group, which is inundated
with comments, pictures and other items
reinforcing that friendship.
KL: Nothing but positive comments and
the one most frequent comment is that
LOFT was the best week of their lives.
CP: Do you keep in touch with some of
the teens who have come through the
LOFT program and see what they are
doing with their lives now?
KL: Yes, I’ve been in contact with many
LOFTees over the years—some more than
CP: Do you see the skills developed by
the teens as lasting—ones they will continue to use later in life?
KL: Absolutely. We have seen LOFT
participants move into leadership roles
on campus, for example, but we need to
do a better job of tracking teens’ progress
after the program. Just this year, we
started an Outcomes Measurement Tool.
The post-questionnaire hasn’t been done
yet (it will be 90 days after the program), so we don’t have results, but this
is one way we are working to enhance
our follow-up. My personal observations show that there is definitely an
increased level of confidence in the way
they handle situations they face. We have
anecdotal evidence that participants feel
LOFT’s positive impact for many years
after attending the program.
CP: What has your involvement in
LOFT done for you personally?
KL: It has been the most gratifying experience for me and it has given me a passion
I did not know existed. Nothing is more
rewarding than interacting with the teens
and watching them grow through the
LOFT experience and then getting the
kind of enthusiastic and positive responses
we do get. It is a great feeling to know you
have changed people’s lives and have had
a positive impact on their thinking and
perception of themselves as individuals with
hearing loss.
CP: What do you see as the future of the
LOFT program?
KL: There will always be a need for LOFT
and I see LOFT changing as the environment and the needs of teens who are deaf
and hard of hearing change. While I would
also love to see LOFT grow internationally,
the expense and quality control aspects of
such expansion are beyond our immediate
grasp. I am available, however, to consult
with international organizations in establishing their own leadership programs.
CP: How can the AG Bell community
support LOFT?
KL: There are two ways the AG Bell community can help support LOFT. One is
very simple: fundraising. The success of
the program, particularly when it comes
to making it available to more teens, is
finding more funding sources. The other
way for the community to help support
LOFT is to publicize the program among
teens who are deaf and hard of hearing that are in the mainstream, both in
private and public schools. While more
applicants can make it difficult for us to
decide who will attend, greater numbers
of applications can be an effective measure for fundraising purposes.
CP: Is there anything else you would like
to tell us about LOFT?
KL: I will say that without the help of AG
Bell staff, particularly Wendy Will, LOFT
would not be a success. The same goes for
the volunteer counselors we have. One
measure of our success is that six of the
eight individuals that are the current LOFT
counselors are LOFT graduates themselves.
This, to me, speaks loud and clear about
the positive impact that LOFT has on teens
with hearing loss.
41
tips for parents
Using Creativity and Arts for
Language Development
By Lexi Logan
Creativity, Exploration
and Language
From an early age, we exposed Phoenix to
a lot of creative activity. Inherently, when
you are creating something, there is a
process of exploration. This is the perfect
outlet for language. My top goal was
always speech, so whatever we were doing,
42 Lexi Logan
I
had the best seat in the house. It was
my third time seeing the show, but
this time I was backstage with my
eyeball pressed up against a small
peephole on the wall of a 200-year-old
theater in Bucks County, Pa. I was watching the cast of Charlotte’s Web take their
bows at the final show of the summer.
The applause was roaring, the actors were
beaming, and I stood backstage with a
small tear running down my cheek.
All the parents were proud of their
children, but my 11-year-old son had
achieved something extraordinary. He
worked harder to get to this place than
most people would ever understand. He
was Templeton, the Rat, in his costume
and whiskers, and he is deaf.
After I learned that my child was deaf,
beyond the initial confusion and bewilderment, I swung into action. We named
him Phoenix: a child that would rise from
turmoil and soar into life with passion. He
has lived up to his spirited name—nothing
can stop this enthusiastic child.
Phoenix was properly aided at 3
months old and got his first cochlear
implant at age 2 1/2. At 5 years old, he
received a second implant in his left ear at
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
People ask me, “How do you do it?
How do you raise a child with hearing loss
who has a flare for theater arts and a passion for show business?”
Phoenix reading through his script for Charlotte’s Web at home, while his brother and sister play in
the background.
he was getting my auditory-verbal boost
within earshot.
At times it felt overwhelming to take
on this challenge knowing that, in the
end, it was mine and my husband’s job to
teach him how to listen and speak. We had
the help of auditory-verbal therapists and
family, but ultimately it was up to us—his
parents—to facilitate Phoenix’s language
development. Our constant involvement
was the fuel that helped my son develop
language, and we tried to be creative about
how he learned to listen and speak.
Create a Stage
My husband and I are naturally animated
people; we are expressive and passionate,
and use a lot of gestures. Looking back I
can see a direct connection between our
temperament and Phoenix’s fantastical
behavior. Although he was born with his
own sense of drama and love of the arts, we
definitely helped nurture this side of him.
Before Phoenix could barely even walk,
we saw a twinkle in his eye that was energetic and clever, and this often made him
entertaining. When you have a child who
is deaf and wants to express himself, you
offer him a daily stage and show him the
vocabulary to convey his message.
Year round, we surrounded him with
puppet shows, a box full of costumes and
musical instruments. I love scouring thrift
shops, yard sales and eBay for special toys to
add to Phoenix’s collections. I bought discounted costumes for him after Halloween
to stock up on our repertoire of makebelieve stories. We would raid the special
treasure chests and act out scenes from his
favorite books or movies. I used the props
to match the sound. It was organized, but
inherently spontaneous. I followed his lead
and made it entertaining. We would swap
out the toys each week to make it fun,
and the lessons got more challenging as he
got better at listening. This activity was a
huge boost to Phoenix’s language building
skills. It reinforced all his auditory-verbal
therapy, and kept him interested in learning to listen and speak.
Lexi Logan
Find Opportunities
Phoenix backstage at the Town and Country Players theater, applying make-up for his role as
Templeton the Rat.
to help Phoenix associate words with items,
as well as to teach him actions: “Oh no! The
dragon is coming! Hide the sword under
the blue cape!” or “Pick out which tool
could help you fix your broken rocket ship.”
I found these props brought learning to life,
and he became instantly interested in our
lessons. Rotating the costumes and props
kept him eager and excited to discover new
meaning to familiar objects.
Music as an Experience
We play music but only at specific times:
it was (and still is) difficult for him to hear
me when the music is on. We stopped
listening to background music, or having
talk radio/TV just “on” in the house.
We consciously stripped away anything
that would hinder his ability to hear and
understand. At the same time, we exposed
him to targeted music experiences. My
husband would sit with him and play
classical guitar. I took him to music class.
Papa, Phoenix’s grandfather, would play
the “Andrew Sisters” and dance in the
living room. This kind of concentrated
musical experience worked for us, and
I feel it helped Phoenix’s listening skills
tremendously.
Journal for Perspective
During Phoenix’s younger years, I wrote
a newsletter to my family and friends. It
was a combination of a journal, a medical
diary and a way to dissect my actions with
Phoenix. I would describe our world to
my loved ones, and in turn it guided me
towards meaningful activities. I highly
recommend journaling for parents of
children with hearing loss.
In the beginning, I remember the paper
being soaked with my tears while I was
writing, but these are such valuable experiences for parents. As parents, we need to
process and express all of these new emotions in order to properly help our children
become their best selves. Even when my
heart was breaking, it was growing larger
every day. It was my mission to make this
world a stage for him to show his spirit.
The Suitcase Game
One of Phoenix’s favorite activities as a toddler was my suitcase game. I bought a small,
old leather suitcase, and filled it with small
action figures, colorful Happy Meal toys
and wooden animals. The suitcase was high
up on the shelf so he didn’t have access to it
whenever he wanted (like his other toys).
It was a “special” game that we played
daily for 20 minutes. This always had him
coming back for more! It was my home
version of auditory-verbal therapy.
Every toy had a sound associated with
it. I would hide the toys under the desk
as I made a sound. I would then line up
three or four toys on the table and cover
my mouth for him to find the right one
Phoenix was always mainstreamed in public school, and I took advantage of every
service available. Also, I am a proud parent
graduate of the John Tracy Clinic program
in California, a correspondence course for
parents of children who are deaf and hard
of hearing.
When I learned about the arts and
science award for summer programs from
the Alexander Graham Bell Association
for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, we felt
like we hit the jackpot! With this award,
Phoenix could spend time in theater and
art camps during the summer that we could
have never afforded on our own. For these
opportunities, we are eternally grateful.
Throughout the years, Phoenix has had
the opportunity to act in some Scholastic
Book DVDs and toy commercials, and he
reads often at church. I have searched out
opportunities, both large and small, for him
to get exposure to theater and film. We have
a dear friend in the “movie business” mentoring him, and encouraging his passions.
When Phoenix was younger, he wasn’t
considered for the speaking parts, but was
brilliant at the acting. As he matured and
his speech became clearer, he took the
acting and voice over work! In the third
grade, his IEP omitted speech therapy
altogether. It was at that moment we knew
we had come a long way.
Having Phoenix work in a professional
theater company this summer was simply
magnificent. Not just for him, or for us as
parents, but also for everyone who is deaf or
hard of hearing. It’s a celebration for every
child that is born deaf, and works to learn
all the skills necessary to achieve their goals.
Children with hearing loss can thrive
in any area they desire. With dedication,
passion and proper access to sound, each
and every child can get a chance to stand
up and take their bows.
43
Hear Our Voices
Beauty in Every Obstacle
By Alana Nichols
T
“
o thine own self, be true.”
In my opinion, those
were some of the greatest
words Shakespeare wrote
and serves as one of the strongest values
I live by. There is no one more you than
yourself on this planet and therefore I try
to embrace who I am to the fullest. That,
of course, includes embracing my deafness.
Through learning to appreciate my identity as a deaf person, I learned significant
life values that are important to all people,
not just to those that are deaf and hard
of hearing, such as advocating for myself,
surrounding myself with positive people,
and ultimately learning to find happiness
and laughter on a daily basis. These three
core values serve as my guiding stars on
this journey called life.
Self-Advocacy and
Self-Respect
If there is one value my parents spent the
most effort ingraining in me, it would be
learning to advocate for myself. For as long
as I can remember, my parents made me
responsible for informing teachers, classmates, friends and even strangers about my
deafness and taking the necessary actions
to compensate for any information I may
miss as a result. Naturally this became an
incredibly valuable tool in school where I
learned to sit in the front, ask the teacher
to face the class when teaching, and ask
when I did not understand information.
However, advocating for myself became
most valuable when it came to forming
genuine friendships and respecting myself.
Life offers everyone obstacles and I believe
it is how we respond in tough situations
that reveals the strength of our character.
I do not have any memories of being bullied but friends and family members have
told me schoolmates tried to. I think I
never recognized the attempts as bullying because I always stopped the situation
44 Alana celebrating Christmas with her father and sister in 2012.
before it was allowed to escalate. If an
insult or rude remark came from someone
I did not know well, I knew not to take it
personally because I recognized it in no
manner reflected who I was.
A useful strategy I learned at an early
age is to respond with “Why?” I often find
if I ask this simple question a few times, the
person who directed the insult often finds
themselves at a loss for words. This question
can be tweaked to fit the situation such as
“Why would you say that?” or “Why would
you ask that?” After I have asked this simple
question a few times and recognized there
was no constructive reasoning behind it,
I usually say one simple statement that
respects and advocates for myself, then walk
away. This is a crucial skill not only for students with hearing loss, but for all children
to learn when it comes to standing up for
and respecting themselves.
A few times, I found myself in situations where I could not walk away, such
as working with others on class projects.
I used this circumstance as an opportunity to be playful. A particular situation
I never forgot was being told to “shut up”
by a classmate in middle school during a
project when I was asking someone else to
repeat what was being said. In this situation, I saw an opportunity to combine
my deafness with what I refer to as the
‘wall strategy,’ which involves continuously repeating a single word or phrase
in response regardless of what the other
person is saying.
Every time this particular classmate
made a negative comment to me, I would
pretend I was not able to hear, responding
with “What did you say? I am deaf and
cannot always hear well.” To my amusement, my classmate would repeat louder
and louder until the teacher came over to
scold her. Fortunately she never bothered
me again, and I believe this is because bullies often pick on victims they believe they
can negatively affect or suppress. In her
eyes, she believed I was not hearing any of
her insults which therefore rendered them
useless. Furthermore, she got in trouble in
the process. I believe in the value of recog-
nizing a potentially negative situation and
turning it into a positive or humorous one.
Each Coin Has Two Sides
In many ways I have viewed my deafness
as a blessing. It has forced me to surround
myself with people who are kind, patient
and willing to accept my deafness and
repeat for me. There is no way I can be
friends with people who are not willing
to repeat information for me because I
cannot be a part of their conversation.
Therefore, my deafness has forced me to
surround myself with positive people who
accept me for exactly who I am and I am
extremely grateful to have them in my
life. Fortunately I have met many kind
people who are more than happy to repeat
what they said when I explain to them
that I am deaf and cannot always hear
well, especially in noisy environments. I
often find that they are curious about my
deafness and how my cochlear implant
works. Furthermore, many seem to find it
fascinating that I have a magnet in my head
and that I can control my hearing by turning it on and off or adjusting the volume.
In one or two circumstances, I have joked
with strangers that it is an ear device for
a spy organization and proceeded to walk
away muttering “Agent Sparrow is on the
move now.” I always found their shocked or
amused expressions humorous. I strongly
believe it is important to find humor in
everyday situations where appropriate.
While I appreciate and welcome
people’s interest in my deafness, I believe
it is important that people always respect
it and view me as an individual who
happens to have a cochlear implant. I
once had a classmate who was so overly
enthusiastic about my deafness and ability
to speak that he repeatedly asked to film
me talking because he found it fascinating.
His enthusiasm was akin to discovering a
talking puppy. Anytime our paths crossed,
I was quickly bombarded with questions
and comments relating to my deafness,
many of which implied my learning and
speaking ability should be lower than that
of people with typical hearing. I quickly
recognized that in his eyes, I was viewed
as a walking and talking deaf object. In
our last encounter, I calmly but assertively
told him “Everything you have done, I
had the opportunity to do as well. I am
Alana accepting the Volta Award in 2010 on behalf of her mother, Joanna Nichols. Alana’s parents
founded the Children’s Hearing Foundation, which helps children with hearing loss in Asia learn to
listen and talk.
an individual and a person first, please
start treating me like one.” In addition to
confronting him, I also recognized this
was not a person I wanted to be around.
Therefore I made sure to develop a polite
but distant friendship with him. I appreciate people’s interest in my deafness, but I
will not let myself or anyone decide that it
is my entire identity.
Humor and Positivity
Ultimately, I believe many of the life
values that being deaf has taught me are
critical for people from all walks of life
including people with typical hearing.
How you view yourself is going to have a
big impact on how others view you. The
same goes for how you view your hearing loss. I have learned that how others
respond to my deafness is often reflected
in the example I set through my attitudes
and actions. If I view deafness as a difficult
obstacle that holds me back, I find that
others will also see it as a hindrance.
However, I learned from an early age
that it is easy to have fun with my unique
trait of being deaf. Although it is called a
disability, I frequently find myself benefiting from the advantages that being deaf
offers me. My sister, who has acutely sharp
hearing, has endured many sleepless nights
and unpleasant mornings when construction disturbed the peaceful silence of the
morning. I have one particularly fond
memory of happily waking up late on a
summer morning around 11 a.m. to find
her lying on the living room sofa with her
face scrunched between pillows, desperately trying to get more sleep. Apparently
the noise from the construction in the
apartment above ours had started roaring
at 5:30 that morning. “I want you hearing…” she moaned between pillows. I
smiled and took a photo of the moment
which now serves as a humorous reminder
on my wall to remain grateful for the
advantages and fortunes I have.
The same scenario happened at my
college where a new dorm was being built
behind my dorm but I did not discover
this until the end of the semester despite
the fact that construction had started at 7
a.m. every morning that semester. As previously mentioned, I believe it is especially
important to find laughter and humor in
all aspects of my life including situations
relating to my deafness.
I am especially grateful for my family. They taught me to advocate for myself
from an early age which contributed
enormously to the success I experienced in
my academic and social life. Furthermore,
through different situations they taught
me the importance of laughter and staying
positive regardless of the situation that
unfolds before us. By recognizing how
strongly, beautifully and positively they
had affected my life, my parents went on
to utilize the tools they gained as parents
of a child with hearing loss and started the
Children’s Hearing Foundation in Taiwan,
which has now helped thousands of children who are deaf and hard of hearing in
Asia learn to listen and talk successfully.
It is because of them, my friends and my
extraordinary deafness that I have come to
realize the importance of Shakespeare’s six
short words.
45
n
California
Echo Center/Echo Horizon School,
3430 McManus Avenue, Culver City,
CA 90232 • 310-838-2442 (voice) • 310838-0479 (fax) • 310-202-7201 (tty) •
[email protected] (email) • www.
echohorizon.org (website) • Vicki Ishida,
Echo Center Director. Private elementary
school incorporating an auditory/
oral mainstream program for students
who are deaf or hard of hearing. Daily
support provided by credentialed DHH
teachers in speech, language, auditory
skills and academic follow-up.
HEAR Center, 301 East Del Mar Blvd.,
Pasadena, CA 91101 • 626-796-2016 (voice)
• 626-796-2320 (fax) • Specializing in
audiological services for all ages. AuditoryVerbal individual therapy, birth to 21 years.
HEAR to Talk, 547 North June Street,
Los Angeles, CA 90004 • 323-464-3040
(voice) • [email protected] (e-mail) •
www.hear2talk.com • Sylvia Rotfleisch,
M.Sc.A., CED, CCC, Certified AuditoryVerbal Therapist®, LSLS Cert. AVT, Licensed
Audiologist, California NPA Certified.
Trained by Dr. Ling. Extensive expertise
with cochlear implants and hearing aids.
John Tracy Clinic, 806 West Adams
Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007 · 213748-5481 (voice) · 800-522-4582 · PALS@
JTC.org · www.jtc.org & www.youtube.
com/johntracyclinic. Early detection, school
readiness and parent empowerment since
1942. Worldwide Parent Distance Education
and onsite comprehensive audiological,
counseling and educational services for
families with children ages birth-5 years old.
Intensive Summer Sessions (children ages 2-5
and parents), with sibling program. Online
and on-campus options for an accredited
Master’s and Credential in Deaf Education.
Training and Advocacy Group (TAG)
for Deaf & Hard of Hearing Children
and Teens, Leah Ilan, Executive Director
• 11693 San Vicente Blvd. #559, Los Angeles,
CA 90049 • 310-339-7678 • [email protected]
• www.tagkids.org. TAG provides exciting
social opportunities through community
service, field trips, weekly meetings, college
prep and pre-employment workshops, guest
speakers and parent-only workshops. site
in the community. Group meetings and
events offered to oral D/HoH children in
5th grade through high school seniors.
n
Colorado
Rosie’s Ranch: Ride! Listen! Speak!
Jean Weingarten Peninsula Oral
School for the Deaf, 3518 Jefferson Ave.
Redwood City, Ca. 94062 • jwposd@jwposd.
org ( email ) • www.deafkidstalk.org ( website
) • Kathleen Daniel Sussman – Executive
Director – Pamela Hefner Musladin – Director
of School
A listening and spoken language program
where deaf and hard of hearing children listen,
think and talk !
Cognitive based program from
birth through Kindergarten. Students
develop excellent language, listening
and social skills with superior academic
competencies. Services include educational
programs, parent/infant, speech /
language/auditory therapy, mainstream
support, educational/clinical audiology,
occupational therapy and Tele-therapy.
46 303-257-5943 or 720-851-0927 • www.
rosiesranch.com • RosiesRanch@comcast.
net • Our mission: To provide a family
centered atmosphere where children with
deafness or oral language challenges will
expand their listening, verbal and reading
skills by engaging in activities with horses,
under the guidance of a highly trained and
qualified staff. Our programs: Mom and
Tot: A 90-minute parent and tot group pony
activity; ages 1-5. Pony Camp: Daily riding
and camp activities; age 6-13. Saturday Riding
Club: For riders of all skill levels; ages 6-16.
Out of state families welcome to experience
ranch life; accommodations will be arranged!
The Alexander Graham Bell Association
for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is not
responsible for verifying the credentials of
the service providers below. Listings do not
constitute endorsements of establishments
or individuals, nor do they guarantee quality.
n
Connecticut
CREC Soundbridge, 123 Progress Drive,
Wethersfield, CT 06109 • 860- 529-4260
(voice/ TTY) • 860-257-8500 (fax) • www.
crec.org/soundbridge (website). Dr. Elizabeth
B. Cole, Program Director. Comprehensive
audiological and instructional services, birth
through post-secondary, public school settings.
Focus on providing cutting-edge technology
for optimal auditory access and listening in
educational settings and at home, development
of spoken language, development of self
advocacy – all to support each individual’s
realization of social, academic and vocational
potential. Birth to Three, auditory-verbal
therapy, integrated preschool, intensive day
program, direct educational and consulting
services in schools, educational audiology
support services in all settings, cochlear
implant mapping and habilitation, diagnostic
assessments, and summer programs.
New England Center for Hearing
Rehabilitation (NECHEAR), 354
Hartford Turnpike, Hampton, CT 06247 •
860-455-1404 (voice) • 860-455-1396 (fax)
• Diane Brackett. Serving infants, children
and adults with all degrees of hearing loss.
Speech, language, listening evaluation for
children using hearing aids and cochlear
implants. Auditory-Verbal therapy; Cochlear
implant candidacy evaluation, pre- and postrehabilitation, and creative individualized
mapping. Post-implant rehabilitation for
adults with cochlear implants, specializing in
prelingual onset. Mainstream school support,
including onsite consultation with educational
team, rehabilitation planning and classroom
observation. Comprehensive audiological
evaluation, amplification validation and
classroom listening system assessment.
n
Florida
Clarke Schools for Hearing and
Speech/Jacksonville, 9803 Old St.
Augustine Road, Suite 7, Jacksonville, FL
32257 • 904-880-9001 • info@clarkeschools.
org • www.clarkeschools.org. Alisa Demico,
MS, CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert AVT, and Cynthia
Robinson, M.Ed., CED, LSLS Cert. AVEd,
Co-Directors. A member of the Option
Schools network, Clarke Schools for Hearing
and Speech provides children who are deaf and
hard of hearing with the listening, learning
and spoken language skills they need to
succeed. Comprehensive listening and spoken
language programs prepare students for success
in mainstream schools.
Services include early intervention, toddler,
preschool, pre-K, kindergarten, parent
support, cochlear implant habilitation, and
mainstream support. Summer Listening and
Spoken language Program provides additional
spoken language therapy for toddler and
preschool-aged children.
Speech has locations in Boston, Bryn
Mawr, Jacksonville, New York City,
Northampton and Philadelphia.
n
Georgia
Atlanta Speech School – Katherine
Hamm Center, 3160 Northside Parkway,
NW Atlanta, GA 30327 • 404-233-5332
ext. 3119 (voice/TTY) • 404-266-2175
(fax) • [email protected] (email) • www.
atlantaspeechschool.org (website). A Listening
and Spoken Language program serving
children who are deaf or hard of hearing
from infancy to early elementary school age.
Children receive language-rich lessons and
highly individualized literacy instruction
in a nurturing environment. Teachers and
staff work closely with parents to instill the
knowledge and confidence children need to
reach their full potential. Early intervention
programs, audiological support services,
auditory-verbal therapy, mainstreaming
opportunities and independent education
evaluations. Established in 1938.
Auditory-Verbal Center, Inc.—Atlanta,
Macon, Teletherapy —1901 Century
n
Indiana
Boulevard, Suite 20, Atlanta, GA 30345
OFFICE: 404-633-8911 FAX: 404-633-6403
EMAIL: [email protected] WEBSITE:
www.avchears.org The Auditory-Verbal
Center, Inc. (AVC) is a premier provider
of comprehensive Auditory-Verbal and
Audiological Services to infants, children,
adults, and their families. Through the
auditory verbal approach, we teach children
with mild hearing loss to profound deafness
to listen and speak WITHOUT the use of
sign language or lip reading. AVC provides
auditory-verbal therapy through their two
main locations in Atlanta and Macon but
also virtually through teletherapy. AVC also
has a full Audiology & Hearing Aid Clinic at
the Atlanta location that provides diagnostic
testing, dispensing and repair of hearing aids
and cochlear implant mapping for adults only.
St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf
– Indianapolis. 9192 Waldemar Road,
n
Illinois
The Hearing and Speech Agency’s
Auditory/Oral Program: Little Ears,
Big Voices, 5900 Metro Drive, Baltimore,
Alexander Graham Bell Montessori
School (AGBMS) and Alternatives In
Education for the Hearing Impaired
(AEHI), www.agbms.org (website) • info@
agbms.org (email) • 847-850-5490 (phone)
• 847-1!50-5493 (fax) • 9300 Capitol Drive
Wheeling, IL 60090 • AGBMS is a Montessori
school educating children ages 15 months-12
who are deaf or hard of hearing or have other
communicative challenges in a mainstream
environment with hearing peers. Teachers of
Deaf/Speech/Language Pathologist / Reading
Specialist/Classroom Teachers emphasize
language development and literacy utilizing
Cued Speech. Early Intervention Services
available to children under 3.
AEHI, a training center for Cued Speech,
assists parents, educators, or advocates in
verbal language development for children
with language delays or who do not yet
substantially benefit from auditory technology.
Indianapolis, IN 46268 • (317) 471-8560
(voice) • (317) 471-8627 (fax) • www.
sjid.org; [email protected] (email) • Teri
Ouellette, M.S. Ed., LSLS Cert AVEd,
Director. St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf
– Indianapolis, a campus of the St. Joseph
Institute system, serves children with
hearing loss, birth to age six. Listening and
Spoken Language programs include early
intervention, toddler and preschool classes,
cochlear implant rehabilitation, mainstream
therapy and consultation and daily speech
therapy. Challenging speech, academic
programs and personal development are
offered in a nurturing environment. (See
Missouri for other campus information)
n
Maryland
MD 21215 • (voice) 410-318-6780 • (relay)
711 • (fax) 410-318-6759 • Email: hasa@
hasa.org • Website: www.hasa.org • Jill Berie,
Educational Director; Olga Polites, Clinical
Director; Erin Medley, Teacher of the Deaf.
Auditory/Oral education and therapy program
for infants and young children who are
deaf or hard of hearing. Early intervention
services are available for children birth to
age 3 and a preschool program for children
ages 3 through 5. Cheerful, spacious, stateof-the-art classrooms located in Gateway
School are approved by the Maryland State
Department of Education. Services include
onsite audiology, speech-language therapy,
family education and support. Applications are
accepted year-round. Financial aid available.
Child’s Voice School, 180 Hansen Court,
Wood Dale, IL 60191 • (630) 565-8200 (voice)
• (630) 565-8282 (fax) • info@childsvoice.
org (email) • www.childsvoice.org (website).
Michele Wilkins, Ed.D., LSLS Cert. AVEd.,
Executive Director. A Listening and Spoken
Language program for children birth to
age 8. Cochlear implant (re) habilitation,
audiology services and mainstream support
services provided. Early intervention for birth
to age three with parent-infant and toddler
classes and home based services offered in
Wood Dale and Chicago. (Chicago–phone
(773) 516-5720; fax (773) 516-5721) Parent
Support/Education classes provided. Child’s
Voice is a Certified Moog Program.
47
n
Massachusetts
n
Minnesota
Speech/Boston, 1 Whitman Road,
Northeast Metro #916 Auditory/
Oral Program, 1111 S. Holcombe Street,
Canton, MA 02021 • 781-821-3499 (voice)
• 781-821-3904 • [email protected] •
www.clarkeschools.org. Barbara Hecht, Ph.D.,
Director. A member of the Option Schools
network, Clarke Schools for Hearing and
Speech provides children who are deaf and
in mainstream schools.
Services include early intervention,
preschool, kindergarten, speech and language
services, parent support, cochlear implant
habilitation, and an extensive mainstream
services program (itinerant and consulting).
Children and families come to our campus
from throughout Eastern and Central
Massachusetts, Cape Cod, Rhode Island,
Maine and New Hampshire for services.
Speech/Northampton, 45 Round Hill
Road, Northampton, MA 01060 • 413584-3450 • [email protected] • www.
clarkeschools.org. Bill Corwin, President.
A member of the Option Schools network,
Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech
provides children who are deaf and hard
of hearing with the listening, learning and
spoken language skills they need to succeed.
Comprehensive listening and spoken language
programs prepare students for success in
mainstream schools.
preschool, day school through 8th grade,
cochlear implant assessment, summer
programs, mainstream services (itinerant and
consulting), evaluations for infants through
high school students, audiological services,
and a graduate degree program in teacher
education.
48 Stillwater MN 55082 • 651-351-4036 •
[email protected] (email). The
purpose of Northeast Metro 916’s Auditory/
Oral Program is to provide a listening and
spoken language education to children who
are deaf or hard of hearing. Services strive to
instill and develop receptive (listening) and
expressive (speaking) English language skills
within each student. Well-trained specialists
carry the principles of this program forward
using supportive, necessary and recognized
curriculum. The program’s philosophy is
that children who are deaf or hard of hearing
can learn successfully within a typical
classroom environment with peers who have
typical hearing. This can be achieved when
they are identified at an early age, receive
appropriate amplification, and participate in
an spoken language-specific early intervention
program. Referrals are through the local
school district in which the family lives.
n
Mississippi
DuBard School for Language
Disorders, The University of Southern
Mississippi, 118 College Drive #5215,
Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001 • 601-266-5223
(voice) • [email protected] (email) • www.
usm.edu/dubard • Maureen K. Martin, Ph.D.,
CCC-SLP, CED, CALT, QI, Director. The
DuBard School for Language Disorders is a
clinical division of the Department of Speech
and Hearing Sciences at The University
of Southern Mississippi. The school serves
children from birth to age 13 in its stateof-the-art facility. Working collaboratively
with 20 public school districts, the school
specializes in coexisting language disorders,
learning disabilities/dyslexia and speech
disorders, such as apraxia, through its nongraded, 11-month program. The DuBard
Association Method®, an expanded and
refined version of The Association Method, is
the basis of the curriculum. Comprehensive
evaluations, individual therapy, audiological
services and professional development
programs also are available. AA/EOE/ADAI.
Magnolia Speech School, Inc. 733
Flag Chapel Road, Jackson, MS 39209 –
601-922-5530 (voice), 601-922-5534 (fax)
– [email protected]
–Anne Sullivan, M.Ed. Executive Director.
Magnolia Speech School serves children
with hearing loss and/or severe speech and
language disorders. Listening and Spoken
Language instruction/therapy is offered
to students 0 to 12 in a home-based early
intervention program (free of charge), in
classroom settings and in the Hackett Bower
Clinic (full educational audiological services,
speech pathology and occupational therapy).
Assessments and outpatient therapy are also
offered to the community through the Clinic.
n
Missouri
CID – Central Institute for the Deaf,
825 S. Taylor Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110
314-977-0132 (voice) • 314-977-0037 (tty) •
[email protected] (email) • www.cid.edu
(website) Lynda Berkowitz/Barb Lanfer, coprincipals. Child- and family-friendly learning
environment for children birth-12; exciting
adapted curriculum incorporating mainstream
content; Family Center for infants and
toddlers; expert mainstream preparation in the
CID pre-k and primary programs; workshops
and educational tools for professionals; close
affiliation with Washington University deaf
education and audiology graduate programs.
The Moog Center for Deaf Education,
12300 South Forty Drive, St. Louis, MO
63141 • 314-692-7172 (voice) • 314-6928544 (fax) • www.moogcenter.org (website)
• Betsy Moog Brooks, Executive Director,
[email protected]. Services provided
to children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing
from birth to 9 years of age. Programs
include the Family School (birth to 3), School
(3-9 years), Audiology (including cochlear
implant programming), mainstream services,
educational evaluations, parent education
and support groups, professional workshops,
teacher education, and student teacher
placements. The Moog Center for Deaf
Education is a Certified Moog Program.
St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf – St.
Louis, 1809 Clarkson Road, Chesterfield,
MO 63017 • (636) 532-3211 (voice/TYY)
• www.sjid.org • An independent, Catholic
school serving children with hearing loss
birth through the eighth grade. Listening
and Spoken Language programs include early
intervention, toddler and preschool classes,
K-8th grade, ihear internet therapy, audiology
clinic, evaluations, mainstream consultancy,
and summer school. Challenging speech,
academic programs and personal development
are offered in a supportive environment.
ISACS accredited. Approved private agency
of Missouri Department of Education and
Illinois Department of Education. (See
Indiana for other campus information)
n
New Jersey
Stephanie Shaeffer, M.S., CCCSLP, LSLS Cert. AVT • 908-879-
0404 • Chester, NJ • srshaeffer@comcast.
net. Speech and Language Therapy and
Communication Evaluations. Auditory-Verbal
Therapy, Aural Rehabilitation, Facilitating
the Auditory Building Blocks Necessary for
Reading. Fluency and Comprehension.
Summit Speech School for the
Hearing-Impaired Child, F.M. Kirby
Center is an exclusively auditory-oral/
auditory-verbal school for deaf and hard
of hearing children located at 705 Central
Ave., New Providence, NJ 07974 • 908508-0011 (voice/TTY) • 908-508-0012
(fax) • [email protected] (email) •
www.summitspeech.org (website) • Pamela
Paskowitz, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Executive
Director. Programs include Early Intervention/
Parent Infant (0-3 years), Preschool (3-5 years)
and Itinerant Mainstream Support Services for
children in their home districts. Speech and
language, OT and PT and family support/
family education services available. Pediatric
audiological services are available for children
birth-21 and educational audiology and
consultation is available for school districts.
49
Center for Hearing and
Communication, 50 Broadway, 6th Floor,
n
New York
Auditory/Oral School of New York,
3321 Avenue “M”, Brooklyn, NY 11234 •
718-531-1800 (voice) • 718-421-5395 (fax)
• [email protected] (email). Pnina
Bravmann, Program Director. An Auditory/
Oral Early Intervention and Preschool
Program serving children with hearing loss
and their families. Programs include: Early
Intervention (center-based and homebased), preschool, integrated preschool
classes with children with normal hearing,
multidisciplinary evaluations, parent support,
auditory-verbal therapy (individual speech,
language and listening therapy), complete
audiological services, cochlear implant
(re)habilitation, mainstreaming, ongoing
support services following mainstreaming.
New York, NY 10004 • 917 305-7700 (voice)
• 917-305-7888 (TTY) • 917-305-7999 (fax)
• www.CHChearing.org (website). Florida
Office: 2900 W. Cypress Creek Road,
Suite 3, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309 • 954601-1930 (Voice) • 954-601-1938 (TTY)
• 954-601-1399 (Fax). A leading center for
hearing and communication services for
people of all ages who have a hearing loss as
well as children with listening and learning
challenges. Our acclaimed services for
children include pediatric hearing evaluation
and hearing aid fitting; auditory-oral
therapy; and the evaluation and treatment
of auditory processing disorder (APD).
Comprehensive services for all ages include
hearing evaluation; hearing aid evaluation,
fitting and sales; cochlear implant training;
communication therapy; assistive technology
consultation; tinnitus treatment, emotional
health and wellness; and Mobile Hearing
Test Unit. Visit www.CHChearing.org to
access our vast library of information about
hearing loss and hearing conservation.
Speech/New York, 80 East End Avenue,
New York, NY 10028 • 212-585-3500 • info@
clarkeschools.org • www.clarkeschools.org.
Meredith Berger, Director. A member of the
Option Schools network, Clarke Schools for
Hearing and Speech provides children who are
deaf and hard of hearing with the listening,
learning and spoken language skills they need
to succeed. Comprehensive listening and
spoken language programs prepare students for
success in mainstream schools.
Clarke’s New York campus is located on
the Upper East Side of Manhattan and serves
children age birth-5 years old from New
York City and Westchester County. Clarke
is an approved provider of early intervention
evaluations and services, service coordination,
and pre-school classes (self-contained and
integrated). There are typically little or no
out of pocket expenses for families attending
Clarke New York. Our expert staff includes
teachers of the deaf/hard of hearing, speech
language pathologists, audiologists, social
workers/service coordinators and occupational
and physical therapists.
Make AG Bell your first stop for resources to help
children with hearing loss learn to listen and talk.
Shop online at www.listeningandspokenlanguage.org
for everything you need for your practice or
classroom on these topics and more:
n
Auditory-Verbal Therapy
n
Early Intervention
n
Educational Management of
Children with Hearing Loss
n
Speech Development
n
Consumer and Physician
Education Materials
TEL 202.337.5220
50 •
TTY 202.337.5221
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out our specials
and clearance section!
W W W. L I S T E N I N G A N D S P O K E N L A N G U A G E . O R G
Children’s Hearing Foundation helped more than 3,000
Hearing-impaired children to listen and speak for the past 17 years!
We cannot lead Taiwan’s hearing-impaired children starting to speak and listen alone
without your help! Please continue to give us your support and allow us to continue the missions
of giving deaf and hearing-impaired children opportunities to listen and speak!
Please send your donation to:
CHF Charity Foundation
501(c)(3)non-pro�it organization
70 Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Morgantown.
PA 19543,USA
Cleary School for the Deaf, 301
Smithtown Boulevard, Nesconset, NY 11767
• 631-588-0530 (voice) • www.clearyschool.
org Kenneth Morseon, Superintendent.
Offers Parent Infant/Toddler Program with
services of Teacher of the Deaf, Speech
Therapy & AV therapy. Transition Program
into our Preschool Auditory-Oral Program.
The primary focus of the Auditory-Oral
Program is to develop students’ ability to
“listen to learn” along with developing age
appropriate speech, language, and academic
skills, this program offers intensive speech
therapy services with a goal to mainstream
students when they become school age.
Additional services offered include: Music,
Art, Library, OT, PT and Parent Support.
Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf,
Rochester School for the Deaf,
40 Frost Mill Road, Mill Neck, NY 11765 •
(516) 922-4100 (voice). Mark R. Prowatzke
Ph.D., Executive Director. State-supported
school maintains Infant Toddler Program
with focus on parent education and family
support that includes listening and spoken
language training by a speech therapist
and TOD. Audiological services onsite.
Auditory-verbal preschool and kindergarten
(ages 3-6) program serves students who
are deaf or hard of hearing alongside peers
with typical hearing. Curriculum addresses
NYS standards as it promotes language
development through listening in a less
restrictive setting. Full time TOD, along
with music, art, library, audiological services
and therapies that include individual and
group speech, occupational, physical and
family supports are available onsite. Certified
Auditory Verbal Educators are on staff.
1545 St. Paul Street, Rochester, NY 14621
• 585-544-1240 (voice/TTY) • 866283-8810 (videophone) • info@RSDeaf.
org • www.RSDeaf.org • Harold Mowl,
Jr., Ph.D., Superintendent/CEO. Serving
Western and Central New York State,
Rochester School for the Deaf (RSD) is an
inclusive, bilingual school where children
who are deaf and hard of hearing and their
families thrive. Established in 1876, RSD
goes above and beyond all expectations to
provide quality Pre-K through 12th grade
academic programs, services and resources
to ensure a satisfying and successful school
experience for children with hearing loss.
Learn & earn
The Volta Review is pleased to offer readers
continuing education units (CEUs) for self-study
of the journal. Complete the assessment and earn
up to 2.0 CEUs per assessment toward certification
or recertification with the AG Bell Academy for
Listening and Spoken Language. You can earn
CEUs at your own time and pace for each issue
– just by reading and completing an assessment!
The Volta Review CEU program offers:
• No waiting – receive instant notification of
grade and auto-generated certificate
• Learn the correct answer as you take the
assessment
• Access to a PDF of the journal text
• Ability to earn CEUs at your own time
and pace
The Volta Review CeU Opportunity
RegisteR to take the assessment today
Online assessments are provided through AG Bell’s online learning community.
Visit ListeningandspokenLanguage.org/tVRCeU to take advantage of this program today.
52 VOLTA VOICES • N ov e m be r / De c e m b er 201 3
The Children’s Hearing Institute,
380 Second Avenue at 22nd Street, 9th
floor, New York, NY 10010 • 646-438-7819
(voice). Educational Outreach Program
– provides continuing education courses
for professionals to maintain certification,
with accreditation by American SpeechLanguage-Hearing Association (ASHA),
American Academy of Audiology (AAA),
and The AG Bell Academy for Listening and
Spoken Language. Free parent and family
programs for children with hearing loss.
CHI’s mission is to achieve the best possible
outcome for children with hearing loss by
caring for their clinical needs, educating
the professionals that work with them, and
providing their parents with the pertinent
information needed for in-home success.
n
North Carolina
BEGINNINGS For Parents of Children
Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing,
Inc., 302 Jefferson Street, Suite 110, PO Box
17646, Raleigh, NC 27605, 919-715-4092
(voice) – 919-715-4093 (fax) – Raleigh@
ncbegin.org (email). Joni Alberg, Executive
Director. BEGINNINGS provides emotional
support, unbiased information, and technical
assistance to parents of children who are
deaf or hard of hearing, deaf parents with
hearing children, and professionals serving
those families. BEGINNINGS assists parents
of children from birth through age 21 by
providing information and support that
will empower them as informed decision
makers, helping them access the services
they need for their child, and promoting
the importance of early intervention and
other educational programs. BEGINNINGS
believes that given accurate, objective
information about hearing loss, parents can
make sound decisions for their child about
educational placement, communication
methodology, and related service needs.
CASTLE- Center for Acquisition of
Spoken Language Through Listening
Enrichment, 5501 Fortunes Ridge Drive,
Suite A, Chapel Hill, NC 27713 • 919-4191428 (voice) • http://www.med.unc.edu/
earandhearing/castle (website) • CASTLE is a
part of the UNC Ear & Hearing Center and
the UNC Pediatric Cochlear Implant Team,
Our mission is to provide a quality listening
& spoken language program for children with
hearing loss; empower parents as primary
teachers and advocates; and train and coach
specialists in listening and spoken language.
We offer toddler classes, preschool language
groups, Auditory-Verbal parent sessions, and
distance therapy through UNC REACH.
Hands-on training program for hearingrelated professionals/university students.
53
n
Oklahoma
n
Pennsylvania
Hearts for Hearing, 3525 NW 56th
Street, Suite A-150, Oklahoma City, OK
73112 • 405-548-4300 • 405-548-4350(Fax)
• Comprehensive hearing health care for
children and adults with an emphasis on
listening and spoken language outcomes. Our
family-centered team includes audiologists,
LSLS Cert. AVTs, speech-language
pathologists, physicians and educators working
closely with families for optimal listening and
spoken language outcomes. Services include
newborn hearing testing, pediatric and adult
audiological evaluations, hearing aid fittings,
cochlear implant evaluations and mapping.
Auditory-verbal therapy as well as cochlear
implant habilitation is offered by Listening and
Spoken Language Specialists (LSLS®), as well
as an auditory-oral preschool, parent-toddler
group and a summer enrichment program.
Continuing education and consulting
available. www.heartsforhearing.org.
Center for Childhood Communication
at The Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia, 3405 Civic Center
Boulevard, Philadelphia 19104 • (800) 5515480 (voice) • (215) 590-5641 (fax) • www.
chop.edu/ccc (website). The CCC provides
Audiology, Speech-Language and Cochlear
Implant services and offers support through
CATIPIHLER, an interdisciplinary program
including mental health and educational
services for children with hearing loss
and their families from time of diagnosis
through transition into school-aged services.
In addition to serving families at our main
campus in Philadelphia, satellite offices
are located in Bucks County, Exton, King
of Prussia, and Springfield, PA and in
Voorhees, Mays Landing, and Princeton, NJ.
Professional Preparation in Cochlear Implants
(PPCI), a continuing education training
program for teachers and speech-language
pathologists, is also headquartered at the CCC.
Speech/Pennsylvania, 455 South Roberts
Road, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 • 610-525-9600
• [email protected] • www.clarkeschools.
org. Judith Sexton, MS, CED, LSLS Cert
AVEd, Director. A member of the Option
Schools network, Clarke Schools for Hearing
and Speech provides children who are deaf and
in mainstream schools. Locations in Bryn
Mawr and Philadelphia.
preschool, parent education, individual
auditory speech and language services,
cochlear implant habilitation for children and
adults, audiological services, and mainstream
services including itinerant teaching and
consulting. Specially trained staff includes
LSLS Cert. AVEd and LSL Cert. AVT
professionals, teachers of the deaf, special
educators, speech language pathologists and a
staff audiologist.
100
since 1914
CENTRAL INSTITUTE FOR THE DEAF
BUTTERFLY
54 VOLTA VOICES • N ov e m be r / De c e m b er 201 3
Delaware County Intermediate Unit #
25, Hearing and Language Programs,
200 Yale Avenue, Morton, PA 19070 • 610938-9000, ext. 2277, 610-938-9886 (fax) •
[email protected] • Program Highlights: A
publicly funded program for children with
hearing loss in local schools. Serving children
from birth through 21 years of age. Teachers
of the deaf provide resource room support and
itinerant hearing therapy throughout Delaware
County, PA. Services also include audiology,
speech therapy, cochlear implant habilitation
(which includes LSLS Cert. AVT and LSLS
Cert. AVEd), psychology and social work.
DePaul School for Hearing and
Speech, 6202 Alder Street, Pittsburgh,
PA 15206 • 412-924-1012 (voice) • 412924-1036 (fax) • www.speakmiracles.org
(website) • [email protected] (email) • Lillian
Rountree Lippencott, Director of Outreach
& Development. As western Pennsylvania’s
only auditory-oral school for children who
are deaf or hard of hearing, DePaul School
provides Listening and Spoken Language
(LSL) education to children in Pennsylvania,
and from Ohio and West Virginia. A State
Approved Private School, most programs are
tuition-free to approved students. DePaul
School provides early intervention services for
children (birth to age 5); a center-based toddler
program (ages 18-36 months); a preschool
program (ages 3-5) and a comprehensive
academic program grades K-8. DePaul School
provides clinical services including audiology,
Auditory-Verbal and speech therapy, cochlear
implant MAPping and habilitation, physical
and occupational therapy, mainstreaming
support and parent education and support
programs. Most children who participate in
DePaul School’s early intervention programs
gain the listening and spoken language
skills needed to succeed and transition to
their neighborhood schools by first grade.
n
South Carolina
The University of South Carolina
Speech and Hearing Research
Center, 1601 St. Julian Place, Columbia,
SC, 29204 • (803) 777-2614 (voice) • (803)
253-4143 (fax) • Center Director: Danielle
Varnedoe, [email protected]. The center
provides audiology services, speech-language
therapy, adult aural (re)habilitation therapy,
and Auditory-Verbal Therapy. Our audiology
services include comprehensive diagnostic
evaluations, hearing aid evaluations and
services, and cochlear implant evaluations
and programming. The University also
provides a training program for AV therapy
and cochlear implant management for
professional/university students. Additional
contacts for the AVT or CI programs include
Wendy Potts, CI Program Coordinator (803777-2642), Melissa Hall (803-777-1698),
Nikki Herrod-Burrows (803-777-2669),
Gina Crosby-Quinatoa (803) 777-2671,
and Jamy Claire Archer (803-777-1734).
55
n
Tennessee
n
Texas
n
Utah
Memphis Oral School for the Deaf,
The Center for Hearing and Speech,
7901 Poplar Avenue, Germantown, TN
38138 • 901-758-2228 (voice) • 901-5316735 (fax) • www.mosdkids.org (website)
• [email protected] (email). Teresa
Schwartz, Executive Director. Services:
Family Training Program (birth-age 3),
Auditory/Oral Day School (ages 2-6),
Audiological Testing, Hearing Aid
Programming, Cochlear Implant Mapping
and Therapy, Aural (Re)Habilitation, SpeechLanguage Therapy, Mainstream Service.
3636 West Dallas, Houston, TX 77019
• 713-523-3633 (voice) • 713-874-1173
(TTY) • 713-523-8399 (fax) - info@
centerhearingandspeech.org (email) www.
centerhearingandspeech.org (website) CHS
serves children with hearing impairments
from birth to 18 years. Services include:
auditory/oral preschool; Audiology Clinic
providing comprehensive hearing evaluations,
diagnostic ABR, hearing aid and FM
evaluations and fittings, cochlear implant
evaluations and follow-up mapping; SpeechLanguage Pathology Clinic providing
Parent-Infant therapy, Auditory-Verbal
therapy, aural(re) habilitation; family support
services. All services offered on sliding fee
scale and many services offered in Spanish.
Sound Beginnings at Utah State
University, 1000 Old Main Hill, Logan,
Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center
- National Center for Childhood
Deafness and Family Communication,
Medical Center East South Tower,
1215 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN
37232-8718 • 615-936-5000 (voice) •
615-936-1225 (fax) • nccdfc@vanderbilt.
edu (email) • www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/
VanderbiltBillWilkersonCenter (web).
Tamala Bradham, Ph.D., Associate Director
in Clinical Services. The NCCDFC Service
Division is an auditory learning program
serving children with hearing loss from
birth through 21 years. Services include
educational services at the Mama Lere Hearing
School at Vanderbilt as well as audiological
and speech-language pathology services.
Specifically, services includes audiological
evaluations, hearing aid services, cochlear
implant evaluations and programming, speech,
language, and listening therapy, educational
assessments, parent-infant program,
toddler program, all day preschool through
kindergarten educational program, itinerant/
academic tutoring services, parent support
groups, and summer enrichment programs.
56 Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf
Children, 603 E. Hildebrand Ave., San
Antonio, TX 78212; 210/824-0579; fax
210/826-0436. Founded in 1947, Sunshine
Cottage, a listening and spoken language
school promoting early identification of
hearing loss and subsequent intervention
teaching children with hearing impairment
(infants through high school.) State-of-the-art
pediatric audiological services include hearing
aid fitting, cochlear implant programming,
assessment of children maintenance of campus
soundfield and FM equipment. Programs
include the Newborn Hearing Evaluation
Center, Parent-Infant Program, Hearing
Aid Loaner and Scholarship Programs,
Educational Programs (pre-school through
fifth grade on campus and in mainstream
settings), Habilitative Services, Speech
Language Pathology, Counseling, and
Assessment Services. Pre- and post-cochlear
implant assessments and habilitation.
Accredited by the Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation
and School Improvement, OPTIONschools
International, and is a Texas Education
Agency approved non-public school. For more
information visit www.sunshinecottage.org
UT 84322-1000 • 435-797-9235 (voice) •
435-797-7519 (fax) • www.soundbeginnings.
usu.edu • [email protected] (email)
• Stacy Wentz, MS, Sound Beginnings
Program Coordinator • Kristina.blasier@
usu.edu (email) • Kristina Blaiser, Ph.D.,
CCC-SLP, Listening and Spoken Language
Graduate Program. A comprehensive listening
and spoken language educational program
serving children with hearing loss and their
families from birth through age five; early
intervention services include home- and
center-based services, parent training, toddler
group, pediatric audiology, tele-intervention
and individual therapy for children in
mainstream settings. The preschool, housed
in an innovative lab school, provides classes
and research opportunities focused on
the development of listening and spoken
language for deaf/hard-of-hearing children
aged three through five, parent training,
and mainstreaming opportunities. The
Department of Communicative Disorders and
Deaf Education offers the interdisciplinary
Listening and Spoken Language graduate
training program in Speech-Language
Pathology, Audiology, and Deaf Education
that emphasizes listening and spoken
language for young children with hearing
loss. Sound Beginnings is a partner program
of the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind.
Utah Schools for the Deaf and the
Blind (USDB), 742 Harrison Boulevard,
Ogden UT 84404 - 801-629-4712 (voice) 801629-4701 (TTY) - www.udsb.org (website).
USDB is a state funded program for children
with hearing loss (birth through high school)
serving students in various settings including
local district classes and direct educational
and consulting services throughout the state.
USDB language and communication options
include Listening and Spoken Language.
USDB has a comprehensive hearing healthcare
program which includes an emphasis on
hearing technology for optimal auditory
access, pediatric audiological evaluations, and
cochlear implant management. Services also
include Early Intervention, full-day preschool
and Kindergarten, intensive day programs,
and related services including speech/
language pathology and aural habilitation.
CLICK SWIPE SHARE LEARN
JTC’S EXPERTISE IN YOUNG CHILDREN (AGES 0-5) WITH HEARING LOSS IS ONLINE
Parents: WWW.JTC.ORG/PALS
check out our web courses, live online classes, family tips and videos
Professionals: WWW.JTC.ORG/RESOURCES
refer parents to JTC’s materials and access our Ideas & Advice blog
MATERIALS AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH
I NTERNATIONAL
n
England
Montreal Oral School for the Deaf,
n
Canada
Children’s Hearing and Speech
Centre of British Columbia, 3575
Kaslo Street, Vancouver, British Columbia,
V5M 3H4, Canada • 604-437-0255 (voice) •
604-437-0260 (fax) • www.childrenshearing.
ca (website) • Janet Weil, Principal and
Executive Director, jweil@childrenshearing.
ca. Celebrating our 50th year, our listening
and spoken language clinical educational
centre serves children and families from
birth through Grade 12 including audiology,
SLP, OT, First Words family guidance,
preschool and primary classes, itinerant
services and video-conferencing/tele-therapy.
4670 St. Catherine Street, West, Westmount,
QC, Canada H3Z 1S5 • 514-488-4946
(voice/ tty) • 514-488-0802 (fax) • info@
montrealoralschool.com (email) • www.
montrealoralschool.com (website). Parentinfant program (0-3 years old). Full-time
educational program (3-12 years old).
Mainstreaming program in regular schools
(elementary and secondary). Audiology,
cochlear implant and other support services.
The Speech, Language and Hearing
Centre – Christopher Place,
1-5 Christopher Place, Chalton Street,
Euston, London NW1 1JF, England •
0114-207-383-3834 (voice) • 0114-207383-3099 (fax) • [email protected].
uk (email) • www.speech-lang.org.uk
(website) • Assessment, nursery school and
therapeutic centre for children under 5 with
hearing impairment, speech/language or
communication difficulties, including autism.
• We have a Child Psychologist and a Child
Psychotherapist. • Auditory-Verbal Therapy
is also provided by a LSLS Cert. AVT.
THEY can learn... YOU can teach them.
LET US SHOW YOU HOW.
The DuBard Association Method is a phonetic, multisensory
approach to teaching language and speech to children with
R
• hearing loss,
• language disorders,
• severe speech disorders,
• autism spectrum disorders
• and dyslexia.
The DuBard Association Method is a multisensory teaching strategy for
educators of deaf and hard of hearing students, K-2 teachers, special education
teachers, reading specialists and speech-language pathologists.
R
Save the date for 2014 professional development opportunities:
Multisensory Math - Feb. 6-7
Missing Links in Academics - April 3-4 and Oct. 29-30
DuBard Association Method Practicum - June 2-26
DuBard Association Method Basic Course - June 16-20 and Sept. 23-25/Oct. 14-16
DuBard Association Method Seminar - June 23-27
18th Annual DuBard Symposium: Dyslexia and Related Disorders - Sept. 17-18
R
R
58 Visit our website for more information on our upcoming courses or on-site training.
IMSLEC-accredited | IDA Recognized Program
Graduate credit and CEUs available
www.usm.edu/dubard • 601.266.5223
AA/EOE/ADAI
R
UC 69552.6215 9.13
R
SPAnGLER continued from page 60
List of Advertisers
I also recently was involved in a group which
successfully advocated for the addition of a
line item to the Ohio budget, which helps
fund hearing aids for children with hearing
loss in Ohio. This funding was recently
allocated and rules are in the process of
being adopted. The intent is to assist families
who do not qualify for public assistance
(Medicaid) but fall within 200-400 percent
of the poverty level. This funding is for the
first set of hearing aids for children ages birth
to 21 and it is a step in the right direction.
My advice to teens and tweens with
hearing loss is to get connected! Find
something that you are interested in and join
a group. This creates a network of friends
who share a common interest. It is also helpful to have one good friend that understands
a little more about your hearing loss. I had
a good friend who was often my extra ear
and would stand up for me if someone else
was teasing. Also, know what your communication barriers are in the social scene and
brainstorm ways that you can try to overcome some of those situations. I was always
shy about telling anyone that I wore hearing
aids and at times felt excluded from social
situations because I did not feel a part of the
conversations. I wish I had more confidence
at an earlier age to advocate for some of my
listening needs. Teens and tweens with hearing loss need to know that there are others
like them who understand what it is like to
walk in their shoes.
I will never forget the day I met the
first person with hearing loss who was
close to my age. Karen MacIver-Lux was
assigned to me as a patient when she was
a graduate student at The University of
Akron. I remember thinking, “Here is this
beautiful young college student who is
wearing hearing aids and uses a personal
FM system and she is training to be an
audiologist! I want to be just like her!”
I continuously educate my own children about what it is like to have a hearing loss and what they need to do in order
to effectively communicate with mom. I
also know that as a parent, I need to be sure
that I can meet their needs and communicate effectively. I am continuously exploring
assistive technology and communication
strategies in order to keep in the loop with
my own kids.
Advanced Bionics Corporation............................................... Inside Back Cover
Boys Town National Research Hospital..............................................................2
CapTel.................................................................................................................10
Central Institute for the Deaf............................................................................. 54
Children’s Hearing Foundation..........................................................................51
Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech...........................................................22
Cochlear Americas.............................................................................................13
DePaul School for Hearing and Speech .............................................................5
DuBard School for Language Disorders...........................................................58
Ear Technology Corp. (Dry & Store)...................................................................19
Harris Communications.....................................................................................12
Jean Weingarten Peninsula Oral School for the Deaf.......................................11
John Tracy Clinic .........................................................................................18, 57
Let’s Hear It For Almigal.....................................................................................31
MED-EL Corporation.......................................................................... Back Cover
National Technical Institute for the Deaf - RIT...................................................49
Oticon...................................................................................... Inside Front Cover
Sprint CapTel........................................................................................................6
St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf................................................................... 8, 23
Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf Children.................................................9, 53
Tucker-Maxon School for the Deaf....................................................................55
UT Health Science Center San Antonio............................................................14
AG Bell Bookstore..............................................................................................50
AG Bell Learn & Earn..........................................................................................52
AG Bell LOFT......................................................................................................35
59
Up Front
on the Back Page
Educational audiologist
with hearing loss
speaks about her
career, advocacy
efforts and life with
hearing loss
Interview by
I
feel blessed that I have a career that
has come together with a purpose. I
experienced many challenges along the
way before I clearly understood what
this purpose was, but sometimes weathering the storms makes you appreciate your
purpose in a much greater way.
My hearing loss is a bilateral mild sloping to profound sensorineural hearing loss,
which was caused by trauma and lack of
oxygen at birth.
Upon receiving my hearing aids at
age 4, I remember leaving the audiologist’s
office and hearing my footsteps on the hard
floor as my parents and I walked outside.
I then wanted my parents to roll down the
windows of the car so that I could hear the
wind blowing. This was just the beginning
of many more appointments and sessions of
auditory-verbal therapy to begin the process
of developing clear spoken language.
I experienced a rollercoaster of emotions growing up in a mainstream setting
with hearing loss, especially in middle and
high school. As with any teenager, I just
wanted to fit in and be part of a group. I
was already one of the tallest girls in my
class, had braces, a horrible perm for my
hair…add to that the hearing aids and talking funny. I certainly felt like an outsider
and had some really “down” moments during this time of my life. As professionals, we
talk a lot about the grief cycle that parents
go through when they find out that their
60 Carrie Spangler
Carrie
Spangler
Spangler with a student showing off their decorative hearing aid
technology. Inset: Spangler with a patient at the Red Bird Mission/
Hear the World Foundation humanitarian audiology program
where hearing aids are fitted on patients who otherwise could not
afford the purchase on their own.
child has a hearing loss. I found that I went
through many components of this grief
cycle as a teenager trying to accept my hearing loss as a part of who I was. I was mad
at God for making me different and went
through some periods of depression.
The field of audiology never crossed
my mind until my senior year of high
school. I was at The University of Akron
as a patient to have my hearing assessed
and hearing aids adjusted. The audiologist
put a little bug in my ear and said, “You
should consider becoming an audiologist.”
I started talking to other professionals and
mentors in the field of speech-language
pathology and audiology and decided that
this was something I wanted to do.
I am a much better audiologist
because of my personal journey with
hearing loss. Having both professional
and personal knowledge of living life with
hearing loss shows immediate empathy
and creates an amazing connection with
the students and families I work with.
Personal experience paired together with
professional knowledge gives credibility to
the counseling, IEP suggestions, modifications, advocacy training and other
programming that is helpful for students
who have hearing loss.
Hearing aids are my connection to the
world, to people and to my family—this
inspires me to advocate for the hearing and
listening needs of others, especially children
who may not have the ability or knowledge
to advocate for themselves. As I looked back
at my life, I recognize that being identified
late at the age of 4 resulted in many extra
years of speech and language therapy sessions as well as additional special education
services to help with my academics and catch
me up with my peers with typical hearing.
Professionally, I was working with parents
who were retelling my story of late identification of hearing loss for their own children
in the year 2002. This motivated me to
advocate on behalf of families in Ohio for
universal newborn hearing screening.
Continued on page 59
We Want You on the Back Page!
Read the entire interview online on the Listening and Spoken Language
Knowledge Center at ListeningandSpokenLanguage.org/BackPage. If you
have stories to tell, experiences to share and a perspective on hearing loss
for this column, please send an email to [email protected] and tell us a bit
about yourself.
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©2013 Advanced Bionics AG and affiliates. All rights reserved.
©2013 Advanced Bionics AG and affiliates. All rights reserved.
For
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information, contact
contact AB
AB
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AdvancedBionics.com/AGBell
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