The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell) offers Arts and Science Financial Aid Awards to students, ages 6 to 19, to participate in after school, weekend or summer programs focused on developing skills in the arts or sciences. Programs can be sponsored by museums, nature centers, art or music centers, zoological parks, space and science camps, dance and theater workshops or any other program with a focus on the arts or sciences.

Awards cannot be used for programs that offer academic credit, travel or study abroad, recreational summer camps, sports camps or sports, including figure skating or gymnastics.

The application and eligibility information is available online here: http://www.agbell.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?p=Arts_and_Sciences_Financial_Aid The deadline for submission is April 17th.

Below is our first poem from HearingExchange Kids member, Julie! If you have a poem, joke or short story you’d like us to publish, send it in to info@hearingexchange.com along with your name, age and state. Be sure to have a parent email me also to give permission to publish it.

What a Hearing Loss Means to Me

A hearing loss means to me,
I can’t always hear what I can see.
I can’t hear the birds in their nest,
while my brother’s being a noisy pest!
Sometimes in sports I don’t hear the referee, but luckily he doesn’t yell at me.
It isn’t easy to hear,
when my friends aren’t near.
It is very hard to hear,
when the cheerleaders cheer.
At the end of the day when I kneel to pray, I’m thankful I’m special in a different way.

By: Julie, Age 9, Massachusetts

Hey guys! I’d like to introduce you to someone very special. Rachel is a college student with bilateral cochlear implants. She is also a wonderful advocate who works hard helping to educate others about hearing loss and cochlear implants. Rachel is a great role model and she has volunteered to be a special friend and mentor at HearingExchange Kids. You may see her post on the Forums and write some articles for us from time to time. Here’s what Rachel wants you to know…

Nearly 18 years ago, I did not understand what sounds meant to me.  Every morning for the first few weeks, when I was a rough little three-year old child, my mother had to sit on me in order to get the magnet on my head.  I know that sounds cruel of my mother, but I am grateful to her for doing this because she has taught me that it is unimaginable to live in a silent world.  Today, I understand that every morning, when I wake up and put my cochlear implants on my ears, I am welcomed to the broad spectrum of opportunities, which include being able to learn a second spoken language, French.
 
I was born profoundly deaf.  Because the most powerful hearing aids did not help me and my parents did not want me to sign, they decided to opt for the cochlear implant.  In 1989, I became one of the first 200 children in US to receive a cochlear implant as part of the FDA clinical trials.  When my parents and I traveled to New York University, they hoped that I would at least hear traffic noise and other environmental sounds necessary for safety.  However, our expectations with my cochlear implant were quickly surpassed. I attended Auditory-Verbal therapy to learn to hear and to speak, and within six months I made tremendous progress and was beginning both to understand what people were saying and to speak.
 
During my young childhood years, I continued to go to Auditory-Verbal therapy to improve my hearing and speaking skills.  I always had to leave school a half hour early to attend sessions once a week.  This never bothered me as my parents taught me that attending therapy sessions was going to pay off in the future, and it did as my language is now caught up.  I am one of those people who can easily fool others into thinking that I am a normal hearing person.  Sometimes when I tell people that I am deaf, they are astounded and refuse to believe me.
 
In order for me to be part of the hearing world, my parents placed me in mainstream school settings so that not only could I learn to hear, speak, and communicate, but also to be an independent hearing person.  Thus, I attended mainstream schools throughout my life where I excelled and received honors.  I was also very involved in extracurricular activities throughout my school years, including student council, National Honor Society, Film Club, French Club, and I also had officer positions in some of these activities.   I’m now in college and pursuing studies in photography and am also very involved with my school newspaper as a writer and a photographer. 
 
About three and a half years ago, I received an implant for my other ear so that I could hear bilaterally.  I am certainly hearing better with two implants, and everything sounds sound richer and fuller.
 
I also have a younger sister, Jessica, who was born profoundly deaf.  She received her cochlear implant at NYU too so that she could be implanted at the age of 15 months.  At that time, she was the youngest child in the country to be implanted.  She also received a second implant when she was nine years old.  She is now in middle school and is doing beautifully like me.  We have a brother who is 17 and has normal hearing.
 
I have a website that speaks about my sister’s and my life with cochlear implants and has information about cochlear implants.  Please visit at http://www.cochlearimplantonline.com.

Texas teen Celia Beron has pluck, persistence and a great idea that is bound to take off. After attending soccer camp with another camper with hearing loss she noticed how the child continued to play even after the referree blew the whistle. Celia had an idea and created Ref for the Deaf, a vibrating bracelet that works with transmitters. When the starter gun or whistle go off to signal the start or end of play, the bracelet vibrates and alerts the wearer. With the help of two graduate students from University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), Celia’s invention has a business model and won the top prize of $10,000 in a UTD new business idea contest. Not bad for an eighth grader!

Celia’s father plans to start a business with the graduate students and market Ref for the Deaf to schools and organizations with deaf and hard of hearing athletes.

Further information on the background of Ref for the Deaf is available here. A website for Ref for the Deaf is under construction at www.refforthedeaf.com.

What do you think of this invention? Would you use it at school for sports or gym? Do you have an idea or invention to help deaf and hard of hearing kids? Click on the Read Comments link at the end of this article and share with us. Who knows, maybe your idea will take off too!

From time to time we will have guests at HearingExchange Kids. Feel free to ask them questions or post your own comments on what they say. Click on the “Read Comments” section at the end of the post and then scroll down where you’ll see a reply box.

This is my friend Jodi, a wonderful mom and author of a great children’s book. I’ll let her tell you about herself…

Hi Everyone!

My name is Jodi and I’m Jordan’s Mom and we live in Grosseto, Italy. Jordan wears a Freedom cochlear implant processor on his left ear. He wore hearing aids for eight years before we decided that the cochlear implant was the best option for his hearing loss.

I wrote a book with my dad called, Rally Caps, featuring a ten year old boy with a cochlear implant. I wanted my son to be able to identify with a character similar to himself in literature. Jordan is able to speak some English, but his first language is Italian. Now that Rally Caps is being translated into Italian he will finally be able to read it!

He amazes me every single day. He plays baseball, the electric and acoustic guitar, PlayStation (too much) and computer games. He’s always in love with some girl, but has yet to have an actual girlfriend… which is a-okay by me!

I teach kids and adults English here in Italy and I can tell you, Italian kids are crazy! Your age group is my favorite and I hope to introduce you to the Italian teen way of life. There are a lot of stylish girls here who love Pucca, Hello Kitty, black nail polish and purple tights.

As a mom I may be old to you, but there is some Avril Lavigne, Linkin Park and Green Day jammin’ on my iPod!

Congrats to Paula for creating this amazing site and thank you so much for letting me be a part of all this!

Lotsa XXXXX,

Jodi

This is Paula again: Check out Jodi’s Rally Caps website where you can see the cover of the book, learn more about it and see photos of Jodi, Jordan and the rest of their family as well as some interesting links too. Click here to see it all.

Welcome to HearingExchange Kids, “the” place for kids with hearing loss online! If you’re a kid in elementary or middle school and you’re deaf or hard of hearing, HearingExchange Kids is where you can hang out, meet other kids, play games, watch videos, get your poems and stories published and so much more.

I’m Paula and I wear two cochlear implant processors. I wore hearing aids growing up and went to public school. I was the only student in my grade with a hearing loss and I only knew of one other student in the entire school district who was like me. I had lots of friends but every now and then it would’ve been nice to talk with other kids who were deaf or hard of hearing. My friends with normal hearing just didn’t “get it” when I was frustrated in the cafeteria or missed the jokes while everyone laughed. I’ve created HearingExchange Kids to be a place for you to meet and talk with other kids who “get it.”

Check out the Forums section where you can post your feelings, questions and advice in the many topic areas. You’ll need to register in order to login to the area. Please do NOT use your real name. Only screen names are allowed.

In our Links section, you can login and submit links to cool websites you find online for kids that you’d like to share with other HearingExchange Kids members. I’ll be adding links here too so check it out often.

Do you like to write poetry or short stories? Have a funny joke? Read a great book and want to share? Send in your stuff and we’ll publish it in Kids Speak. Be sure to include your full name, age and state and email it to: info@hearingexchange.com

Be sure to click on the links in the pink area on the right side of the site (called the sidebar). I have broken it down into several categories: Games, Contests, Videos, Blogs and Sites, Information, Freebies and Meet Up. As the names imply, you’ll find fun games, contests you can enter, captioned videos to watch, great blogs and websites to visit, information on hearing loss, free things you can get and conferences or conventions where you can go with your families and meet other kids with hearing loss. I’ll be adding links to the sidebar, so visit it often to see what’s new.

Remember, HearingExchange Kids is your place. If you have any suggestions for us, (websites you like, videos you’ve seen, questions you need help with, etc.) be sure to send them in!

Now, let’s get started! In order to become a member and use the Forums (message boards) and always get the newest information I post, you’ll need to do two things. Please ask your parents before joining.

First, click on the “Register” link here and enter a Username (screen name) and your email address. Your email address will ALWAYS be kept private.

Second, click on the Subscribe to the Feed link here and then click on the “Subscribe to this feed” in the yellow box on the page it brings you to. This way, you can check the “Feeds” section in your browser’s “Favorites” area and always read the latest articles I post here on HearingExchange Kids.

As an extra step, I recommend that you put HearingExchange Kids in your bookmarks or favorites so that you’ll be able to come back often and easily.

Now you’re ready to enjoy HearingExchange Kids! Let me know what you think by sending me an email at info@hearingexchange.com.

Enjoy!

~ Paula Rosenthal