Walk into the class, and it looks like any other in an elementary school, until you look a little closer. You will notice all the kids are either wearing hearing aids or they have cochlear implants, because this is a special program for kids who have hearing deficiencies.
"The object is to open perception so that they can learn any language in the world, and that’s what we want them to do, to learn everything," said Marie Mazzara, a speech language pathologist who leads the program.
It’s not a new fad, Mazzara started the verbal-tonal instruction model program at Kenwood K-8 Center in Kendall back in 1984.
"We add rhymes and rhythms, all the speech sounds that we work on are immediately driven into a word, gone into a phrase so it becomes something meaningful," Mazzara said. "We use role playing and we make it a lot of fun for the kids."
One goal is to raise the communication skills and the confidence of hearing-impaired students.
"I learned a lot of words here and it helped me communicate better," said 6th-grader Emily Fuerte.
8th grader Jared Martinez transferred into Kenwood’s program.
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"I’m from another school I went to, I didn’t learn very much, then I went here, it helped me a lot," Jared explained.
The teachers wear microphones so that everything they say as they teach their classes is amplified by speakers, or wirelessly goes directly into the hearing aids worn by the students.
So how does one judge the effectiveness of a program like this? Of course, there are analytic measures, such as test scores over the years. Or you can simply ask a parent.
"He has been able to go from being completely non-verbal to speaking without any issue," gushes Amy Stetson about her son, Cody. "He read a book to us last night which was unbelievable, so it’s just been a miracle."
The program is also a bonding experience for the 61 students in it at the moment. They understand each other because they all they know what it’s like to rely on hearing aids, they all have similar issues, and hopefully, unlimited futures.
"That they get to choose what world they want to walk in, what community they want to be a part of so that they’re not limited in this world, the world is open to them," Mazzara said.
