My Dream Career My dream is to be a cochlear implant audiologist. I would love to be a mentor to my patients, someone who can relate to the social and emotional aspects of hearing loss, while also being able to provide the best audiological care that I can. While I don’t have a cochlear implant myself, I did grow up with a mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss and wear hearing aids. In fact, I still remember the day I walked into kindergarten with my new hearing aids at

Dear Sophie, Hi! My name is Tionna Mitchell, and I am 12-years-old. I live in Halifax County, Virginia. I have a mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss in my left ear. I wear a hearing aid and use an FM system in the classroom. My hearing aid helps me hear most speech sounds that I wouldn’t be able to hear without it. It also helps me to localize sounds and follow general conversations. My FM helps me hear my teacher as well as my classmates during group discussions and

My Dream Career When I was six, I was diagnosed with a profound sensorineural hearing loss in my right ear—or single-sided deafness. The doctors believe that I was born with hearing loss, but since I have normal hearing in my left ear, I was able to learn to listen and talk. In high school, I received a bone-anchored hearing aid (Baha). It helps me with sound awareness on my right side because it sends the signal to my ‘good ear’. After I received my Baha, I began to think au

Mitch is a graduate student in deaf education at the Program in Audiology and Communication Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. He has a profound hearing loss and wears bilateral cochlear implants. My Dream Career I have a profound hearing loss and wear bilateral cochlear implants. I attended Child’s Voice, a school for the deaf in Chicago that gave me the tools to hear and talk. Because of the huge impact the school had on my life, I’ve decided that I want to be

My dream career My dream job was to be a teacher of the deaf. After growing up in Wyoming and going to graduate school in Missouri, I made that dream come true as a first year teacher in beautiful Hawai’i. However, I learned that Hawai’i is not necessarily ‘paradise’ for a new teacher of the deaf. Hawai’i faces many challenges around education, and children with hearing loss don’t always receive appropriate services. I needed to use my training and experiences to quickly lear

An IEP is designed to help you, the student, but are you ready to attend your IEP meeting?Get ready for the new school year with our IEP Guide! Individualized Education Plan (IEP): Action steps for you and your teachers to help you achieve your goals. IEP Meeting: A yearly meeting to discuss your progress, set new goals, and plan accommodations. IEP team: A group of people that meets to create and update the IEP, typically including your parents, teacher of the deaf, case man

E M I L Y My Dream Career I want to be a pediatric audiologist to help families through the process of hearing loss diagnosis, amplification, and education. As someone who grew up wearing hearing aids and recently received a cochlear implant, I know how important it can be for kids with hearing loss to interact with adults like them. It shows them that we can be successful no matter the circumstances! My Self-Advocacy Story Until college, I was always the only person in class

HOW does Emily hear? With her Gap onesie on, a gummy smile, and 2 pink hearing aids! All About Me Hi, my name is Emily, and I’m 18-months-old. I’m from Long Island, New York. I love to go to school, play with my toys, and learn to listen with my hearing aids. This year I went to New York City and auditioned for an ad campaign... and guess what? I was featured in the GapxDisney campaign proudly showing off my hearing aids! Hearing My Way My Mommy and Daddy learned that I had h

Three years ago, we interviewed our first PACS student, Stephanie, who was inspired to study deaf education after growing up wearing hearing aids herself. What has changed since we last checked in with Stephanie? Well, she graduated from the program and became a teacher of the deaf, got married, moved to North Carolina, and most recently, got a cochlear implant! My CI Journey I had been thinking about getting a cochlear implant even before I started graduate school—it took me

Meet Kyle! My Dream Career Growing up, sports was a way of life for me, so my dream was to become a professional baseball player. However, as I got older, I realized a better fit was education, which would make use of my patience & passion for working with kids. I became a second grade teacher, but inspired by my older brother who has hearing loss, I am now earning my Master’s in Deaf Education. One of the best parts is my wife is in the same program pursuing her Doctorate in