THIRD PLACE A Lot and Every Day: Pluses and Minuses By Keaton Medearis Plevna Schools Ismay, Montana

I thought that someone was taking my picture because there was a bright light in my face. This is one of the new technologies to help me. I am a deaf boy in the 7th grade, at Plevna School, in Plevna, Montana. I use a lot of technology in my everyday life.
A bright light can wake you up at night. That is the fire alarm. Its flashing light tells you that there is a fire. I have fire alarms like this in my home and school.
A TDD is a deaf person's telephone and we use it for talking to other people. A TDD is like a computer because you type a message on it. My friends, Troy and Beau, and I use it for talking to each other. They borrow the TDD from school during the summer to visit with me. My cousin, Tyler, has his own at home but we do not use it very often.
When I was little, my mom was very worried when I did not have something and she would search for it — “It” was my hearing aids. Sometimes my mom would find my hearing aids, but not when I lost them in the hay. I would hide them because I did not like them. One time I hid them in the heater vent. Now I am not hiding them. School hearing aids are not comfortable. They are heavy, big, and they press hard against my ears. I do not like the noise in my hearing aid. I also do not like people to stare at me because I am wearing them. Further, it makes me embarrassed when people talk to me and I do not know what they are saying. I do not know what to do. Sometimes I only say "Yes," or "No," to these people because I do not know what else to say.
Now I am going to tell some things about my hearing aids that I do like. When I was four years old, in preschool, I had an FM system. I was not used to noises and I liked it to be quiet but with the FM system, I enjoyed hearing new sounds. I liked outdoor sounds like birds. One time I was outside and I heard something. I looked and saw a woodpecker pecking the tree. Hearing aids can show people that I am deaf because sometimes people talk to me and they do not know.
I have other hearing aids for school that are FM systems. The FM system is a transmitter for the teacher and I have hearing aids with antennas on them. My hearing aids receive the sound waves from my teacher. When my teacher is talking I only hear some letters, not all the words. The school bought those hearing aids for me. I kind of like the FM system because when I hear the teacher talking it helps me.
A long time ago, some of the deaf people were upset with TV. They did not know what people on TV were saying—but the problem has been solved. We now have closed caption for the TV. Closed captioning puts words on the TV to show what people are saying.
If you can not hear the knocking on the door, you can have a knock light box. A light flashes when people knock on the door to help deaf people know that someone is there. I have a knocking light box on my bedroom door. Technology is very important to deaf people because it helps them. That's why hearing aids are important. Some technology I really don't need, but I don't want to give it up if I don't have to.