Guided to Speech

by Jamie Hoople
Florida, USA

Guided to Speech

I suffered hearing loss due to a high fever as an infant, but was not immediately diagnosed. I was born into a military family in 1960, and when I was less than a year old, my father was transferred. We moved from California to Zaragoza, Spain.

When I hadn’t spoken by age two, my parents took me to the military doctors. They recommended a renowned specialist in Germany, who examined me and recommended that I be put into an institution for the severely retarded.

Thank goodness my parents didn’t accept this.

They found another doctor, who suggested a hearing test. During the test, my mother and father were thrilled to see me squeeze a toy as beeps came through the headphones. Afterwards, I was fitted with powerful hearing aids. A harness held the hearing aids on my back, with wires going up to my ears.

Based on my condition, my father secured a transfer when I was five. We moved to Colorado Springs, where an exceptional speech and hearing center was located. More focused now, I started many hours of speech therapy lessons with Miss Clara Walker.

I can still visualize Miss Walker carefully forming her lips to say letters, especially the difficult letter “S”. Think about it: your lips don’t move when you make the “S” sound. My parents were overjoyed to hear me start to talk.

I will never forget Miss Walker for being so thrilled with my progress that she scheduled a gathering of colleagues and friends to hear me read from a book. The audience was wonderful and I received a small doll, which I treasured for years.

When my father retired in 1969 and we moved away, I had to say goodbye to Miss Walker. I started third grade in Tampa, Florida and eventually graduated from high school with honors.

In 2002, I enrolled in a sign language class at our community college. I had never learned to sign while growing up, because my parents were told that signing was so much easier to learn than learning how to talk.

A couple in my class was attending with their partially deaf preteen child. They told me how little support there was for hard-of-hearing children. I then realized how fortunate I was that my parents found the training that I needed to function in today’s world — and how fortunate I was to be mentored so carefully by Miss Clara Walker.

I’ve worked for the insurance industry for almost 25 years, and have achieved a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter designation. Thank you, Clara Walker. I don’t consider myself handicapped and I have a successful career and a wonderful family, thanks to you.

Originally published as HeroicStories #639 on Nov 11, 2005
Play

1 thought on “Guided to Speech”

  1. This is a lovely story.

    The scary part was this: ‘They recommended a renowned specialist in Germany, who examined me and recommended that I be put into an institution for the severely retarded.’

    If Jamie’s parents had accepted the verdict of the expert an entire life would have been wasted.

    Shine on, Jamie.

    John

    Reply

Leave a Comment