In kindergarten, I was diagnosed with severe hearing loss. Soon after, I was fitted with a hearing aid for my right ear. A condition for me staying in public school was that I become a client at the South Bend Speech and Hearing Clinic.
From ages 5-7, I enjoyed private lessons with Miss Berger. I loved her dearly.
After she retired, the lessons stopped. To this day, I discriminate speech better in my right ear because it was trained in listening for six years before I started wearing hearing aid glasses with aids in both ears.
Fast forward, I am married and retired now. To stay busy, it was only natural to look for volunteer work at the Speech and Language Clinic. There, I met six-year-old Ava. Before long, my boss asked me to work with Ava on language skills. Let me tell you, the materials I was given for Ava’s lessons were borrrring. If they bored me, I knew they bored Ava. Since I was a former teacher, Colleen gave me her blessing to create my own lessons. Stories, props, and activities were my MO. My lessons on selling pottery at a bazaar were a hit. As were the pirate lessons. As ye can see from the picture, Ava relished dressing up as a ship’s boy. We had fun times. Today, this young
lady is a college student.
For sure, this shy little girl wearing a hearing aid that looked like a button in her ear, never dreamed that one day, for a short spell, she would fill Miss Berger’s shoes.
Oh, the irony.