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Growing Up Without Hearing (Series 1)
WILLIE'S SCHOOL
Willie attends a day school for deaf children. A day school is like a regular school, but it is for hearing impaired children. The
children do not live at the school. They come to school in the morning and go home at the end of each day. They usually ride a
school bus.
 | | Willie and his friends start their school day with a bus ride. |
Willie is in the fourth grade. Before Willie was born, his mother had German measles. This caused Willie's deafness. Everyone else
in Willie's family can hear. Willie started school when he was only two years old. Deaf children often start school very young.
Willie's school is almost the same as Kate's residential school. All the children use classroom hearing aids. The teachers use
microphones. Many special people work in schools and programs for deaf children. Some of the specialists in Willie's school are:
- Classroom teachers—the people who teach the children in class. They have special training in ways of teaching deaf
children.
- Speech therapist—the teacher who helps Willie learn to speak more clearly.
- Audiologist—the person who tests Willie's hearing and helps him take care of his hearing aids.
- Counselor—the person who helps Willie if he has any problem dealing with school, friends, or family.
 | | Willie puts a new battery in his hearing aid. |
 | | Willie and his friends sit together in the school cafeteria. |
The children and teachers in Willie's school do not use sign language. Willie's school is an oral school. The children in oral
schools and programs use talking, listening, and speechreading to communicate.
Willie studies regular fourth grade subjects. In science he is learning about electricity. In math he is learning to multiply
fractions. In social studies he is make a map of his state. Sometimes his class takes special trips. One day they went to see a
play at a children's theater. Willie and his classmates could understand the play because their teachers sat where the children
could their faces and repeated what was being said on the stage. The teachers were interpreting. They were oral interpreters. They
repeated the words of the actors without using voice, and the children were speechreading the teachers.
WILLIE'S FAMILY
 | | Willie and his friends skateboard together. |
Willie wears hearing aids all the time at home. With the aids, he can hear some things that people say. But what he hears is
not very clear. It is heard for Willie to understand everything. That's why Willie's mother always looks at him when she talks.
Sometimes she moves closer so that Willie can see her face and lips better.
Sometimes Willie does not understand what his parents are saying. When deaf people and hearing people can't understand each
other; it can be frustrating. Willie's parents use different ways to help Willie understand. They repeat what they say, or they
use different words. They use pointing and gestures. Pictures and writing help, too. Both Willie and his parents have learned to
be patient.
Willie and his brothers do many things together. They play with space toys and race sets. They like to skateboard near their
house. On Saturday morning, they like to watch cartoons on TV. Willie's brothers can understand everything Willie says because
they spend so much time together. They are used to the way Willie talks.
Willie's parents bought a TDD so Willie could talk to some of his deaf friends on the telephone. Willie enjoys typing to his
friends on the TDD.
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