Briefly Introduce Your Family
We’re a family of three living in San Diego. I’m originally from NJ and moved in San Diego 10 years ago, and Andy moved to San Diego in 2014 due to military orders. Today, I work in media relations at UC San Diego and Andy is a civilian contractor for the Navy. We enjoy being outside, reading, traveling, live music and going out to eat. At home, we use ASL and speak English.
Please tell us about your child’s earliest years
Will referred on the newborn hearing screen and at 10 days old, he had his first ABR test, which told us that he had mild to moderately severe bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. A few months later, genetic testing told us that Will’s hearing loss was non-syndromic but most likely progressive. After that initial ABR, we immediately threw ourselves into knowing everything we could about the deaf community, and we credit a lot of that with our first early intervention teacher through San Diego Unified. We had our first visit with Will’s early intervention teacher and an audiologist through the district when he was just under two months old, and that led us down a path of total communication that felt perfectly suited for our family. San Diego Unified’s DHH program really places a strong emphasis on total communication. While it has been hard for us to learn ASL as we both have full-time jobs and other side hustles, we’ve come to see how beneficial it it for Will, and we are excited to continue learning. He received his behind-the-ear hearing aids at three-and-a-half months through San Diego State’s School of Hearing and Language Sciences, which has been a wonderful experience for our family.
Please share a little about your child’s educational placement experiences
Will has been thriving in San Diego Unified’s DHH program and it has truly been a perfect fit for our family. The program emphasizes total communication – Will’s main teacher this year only signed – and it has allowed his communication to reach that of a typically hearing child of his age. He attends the school three days a week for three hours a day and each day, receives 15 minutes of speech services. When he turns three, he’ll be at the school four days a week for three hours a day.
As a parent, how have you helped your child connect with DHH peers and adults?
Hands & Voices! Our first early intervention teacher told us about Hands& Voices and being involved in the organization has been such a gift. We’ve met so many families like ours who are in different stages, and it’s helped alleviate some of the worry that comes alongside having a differently-abled child; we’ve seen kids with his same level of loss thriving (including an American Ninja Warrior!) and that’s made such a huge difference for our family. Even if Will’s hearing continues to deteriorate, we know he’ll be okay because he has so many Deaf role models to look up to (including his own audiologist). We are so thankful to be involved with such a kind, caring and nonjudgemental community.
Most Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) children are born to hearing parents. What has your child helped you better understand about their world—or changed in how you see the world around you?
At Will’s first ABR, we were told that his level of loss was such that, “sign language won’t be part of your journey but hearing aids will.” That comment, to this day, still irks us! We decided that we wanted Will to have as much access to language as possible so we started learning ASL alongside him, which we never would’ve done had we not had a hard of hearing child. Knowing ASL has made us more inclusive people.
As you look back on your child’s life, what was your proudest moment?
Will LOVES music. When he was first identified, we had no idea what was in store: would he like music the same way Andy and I do? But we didn’t need to worry about that. He loves to sing, blow on a recorder or play his guitar! He loves listening to music in the car – specifically ABBA and Carly Rae Jepsen – and even sings to himself when there’s no music playing. Seeing his love for music feels like the biggest gift.
Tips & Resources: What resources have been most helpful on your journey?
Facebook support groups and organizations like Hands & Voices have helped us so much in our journey, but our experience with early intervention has been the most helpful experience. We know how lucky we are that we’ve had such a positive experience with it and have come to rely on their expertise so much; we seen how much Will has thrived due to their education and know that without them, we would be in a much different place. I wish I could tell every family in San Diego to trust the early intervention process!
