All About Lindsay
Lindsay is an 8-years-old second-grader at Oakland Elementary School. She is involved in many sports and hobbies, including soccer, softball, iceless hockey, dance, cheer, and orchestra. Her cheer team won first place at state this year and they are the youngest squad to do that for the Lake Villa Timberwolves. Lindsay has participated in ballet and tap dance and will soon be taking on learning how to dance to hip hop.
What makes Lindsay a Super-HEAR-o
Most people would be surprised to know that Lindsay has a hearing loss in both ears. She wears hearing aids in both of her ears all day. While at school, she uses a Phonak Roger Touchscreen system to hear her teacher better. Her teachers wear a microphone around their neck and Lindsay wears 2 receivers that attach to her hearing aids. Even though Lindsay can hear with her hearing aids, speech clarity can sometimes be difficult, especially in the presence of classroom background noise. Using her Phonak Roger Touchscreen system allows Lindsay to clearly hear her teacher and reduce her auditory fatigue throughout the day.
Being a Super-HEAR-o at School
Lindsay says that the hardest thing about having a hearing loss is that it can be hard to understand what people are saying during lunch or recess when it’s loud. Lindsay says, “It’s especially hard to hear at places like Culver’s because they get so busy and it’s really loud!”
The best thing about using her Roger Touchscreen Mic at school though is that it helps her develop good relationships with all her teachers. Because she needs to give her Touchscreen Microphone to her teachers before a lesson begins and after it ends, she has the opportunity to get to know her teachers better. Lindsay also likes how her Phonak Roger Touchscreen Mic can be placed on the table in the middle of her group for group work. She says that being able to hear everyone in her group equally makes her a super listener allowing her to keep up with the conversations easily.
Lindsay has been a great role model to other students with hearing loss at her school. This school year, Lindsay has worked with another student who uses assistive technology every morning in her classroom to make sure that they are both connected to the same Touchscreen Microphone that their teacher wears.
Lindsay has also made sure that she connects other students with hearing loss to her microphone for assemblies. Lindsay then hands the microphone off to her school principal so that she and the others connected can clearly hear what’s being announced.
Lindsay’s Fun Facts About Hearing Loss
“I am very responsible because of my hearing loss. Every day, I need to clean my hearing aids, change batteries when they are not working, grab my microphone [Roger Touchscreen Mic], hand it off to my teachers throughout the day, return the microphone before I go home, and report any issues I have [with her Hearing Assistive Technology] to an adult. Other kids my age do not need to take care of equipment like me.”
“I can enjoy peace and quiet when I take my hearing aids out to sleep at night.”
“I can sometimes hear the teacher better than my friends because of my Roger Touchscreen Mic.”
All About Molly
Molly is an 8-year-old second-grader at Hillcrest Elementary School. She is involved in many sports and hobbies, including karate, basketball, running 5k races, Girl Scouts, hiking, drawing, and reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid. She also enjoys playing outside with her siblings and neighborhood friends. They enjoy tree climbing, biking, sledding, snowball fights, and more. She also enjoys helping her mother cook or bake at home. Last October, Molly won 3rd place in a NAKA karate tournament. She also competed in three 5k races and completed all of them in under 30 minutes. She has placed 2nd and 3rd in her age range for 5k races. One of the things Molly is most proud of is being a role model to other kids in her school.
What makes Molly a Super-HEAR-o
Most people would be surprised to learn that Molly was born with a profound hearing loss in her right ear. While at school, she uses a Phonak Roger Touchscreen system to hear her teacher better. Her teachers wear a microphone around their neck and Molly wears a receiver in her left ear, which she has normal hearing in. It can be exhausting for Molly to hear the teacher with only one good ear. She needs to filter out a lot of classroom background noises, such as heater/fan types of noises, kids moving their chairs or desks, rustling paper, side conversations, noises from the hallway, and so on. It can be exhausting for her to both filter out this background noise and focus on the teacher’s voice with only one normal hearing ear. Therefore, wearing a receiver that is transmitting the teacher’s voice directly to her ear enables her to hear all of her teachers without becoming auditorily fatigued.
Being a Super-HEAR-o at School
Molly says that the hardest thing about using her Phonak Roger Touchscreen at school is having to get used to the sound again on Monday after not having the system over the weekend at home. The best thing about using her Touchscreen is that it gives her super hearing. She likes hearing her teacher at varying long distances in the classroom.
Molly has been a great role model to other students with hearing loss at her school. This school year, two students at her school have been diagnosed with hearing loss. Molly was very eager to help her hearing itinerant teacher introduce Hearing Assistive Technology to the students and show them how to use their devices at school.
Recently, Molly’s class learned what a compliment is and how it is a kind gesture to say something nice to others that make them feel good. Students were given an opportunity to write a compliment down on a mitten to be hung around the school. Molly chose to write a compliment to the Deaf community of students at her school. She wrote, “It’s okay to be Deaf. You can still do the same things [as everybody else] and more.” Molly says that this is her advice to everyone who has a hearing loss and that they shouldn’t let their hearing loss keep them from following their dreams.
Molly’s Fun Facts about Hearing Loss
“I get to make friends with others with hearing loss because I get to go to camps and other special events for kids with hearing loss. It’s fun meeting other kids who have a hearing loss too.”
“Having a hearing loss helps me sleep better at night. If it rains, I can sleep with my deaf side up and do not hear the rain as much.”
“My hearing loss has taught me to speak up so that everyone can hear me better in our classroom discussions.”
