CEID Successes

Quotes from CEID Graduates

• "CEID, you will always be close to my heart and we will never forget the staff and teachers at CEID!"
• "CEID is the reason I can do stuff without people pulling me down."
• "Now a student at UC Berkeley, I know that it was my time at CEID that helped me achieve my future goals.’"
• "My past 19 years have been nothing short of amazing. No matter how I look at it, I know that it all started at CEID."

Success Stories

• With CEID’s help, this profoundly deaf three-year-old increased his vocabulary 20-fold in just 8 months. It’s made him happier and more confident.
  
• CEID is a place of caring and hope for this hard-of-hearing child and her mom. Though born prematurely, this little dynamo is now thriving!

When our son was three years old he was diagnosed with a profound bilateral hearing loss. For a year he had been attending speech therapy, as we were very concerned about his limited vocabulary and delayed speech. But we were shocked to find out he was profoundly deaf. Due to the late diagnosis, our son had only a 10-word vocabulary when he started at CEID in March of this year. (2007)

We knew we had to act quickly to get him specialized help, including taking a three month personal leave from work to attend his classes and therapy sessions. Our priority was to help our son in every way possible.

As our family adjusted to this new world of educating a child with hearing loss, learning about sign language, hearing aids, speech therapy, occupational therapy, cochlear implants, and everything else that goes along with raising a child, CEID immediately provided support, not only for our son, but for our entire family.

CEID has been the primary resource for us in learning about our son’s development. The family education classes have enabled even our extended family to learn sign language in order to maximize communication with him. The weekly home visits from our son’s teacher ensure that things are going smoothly for him at home and are also an opportunity for us to address any concerns we might have.

In September, our son transitioned from CEID’s toddler class to the preschool class, and he continues to progress rapidly in his speech and language, academic, and social skills.

In October, he reached the benchmark of having over 200 words in his vocabulary, just 8 months after starting at CEID. Last month he got a cochlear implant and every day we hear him say new sounds and words. Today he is a different little boy -- filled with smiles and renewed confidence. We are so hopeful for our son’s future and with CEID’s help, he can and will be anything he dreams to be.

CEID is a place of caring and hope for this hard-of-hearing child and her mom. Though born prematurely, this little dynamo is now thriving!

They say it takes a village to raise a child. That has surely been the case for my daughter. She was born prematurely at 24½ weeks, weighing in at 1 pound, 2 ounces. For the first five months of her life, she was lovingly nurtured by the staff at Children’s Hospital of Oakland (CHO). A website in her honor kept a wide circle of friends and family sending positive thoughts to her as she developed the strength to claim her place in this world. And so her village began to form with family, friends, and the staff of Children’s Hospital Oakland!

This past February, my daughter’s village grew even more as she entered the CEID toddler program. She has been embraced by the staff, from her teacher and classroom aides up through the administration. They provide her with a stimulating, creative, fun, warm environment that floods her with language, sign, and verbal communication, every day. She is thriving!

CEID has been a support not only for our daughter, but for me. There is a knowledgeable and caring group of people helping me raise my daughter, wanting the best for her as I do. From day one, our daughter’s teacher has taken time to listen to my concerns or questions and has provided constructive suggestions and feedback. She welcomed my full time presence in the classroom for the first few months, which was an extremely valuable time as I saw how to use sign to support my daughter during play, reading, singing, and meal times. When I felt ready to leave her on her own (she was ready before I was!), her teacher and the wonderful staff of aides had already developed a trusting relationship with both my daughter and me so that the transition was an easy one.

Besides the support provided by the staff of the Toddler class, CEID has offered so many other tools to help in the raising of a hard of hearing child. Each Tuesday I attend the morning sign language class. These valuable sessions provide not only instruction in sign, but give a valuable forum for us, as parents of deaf and hard of hearing children to discuss issues, share concerns, and celebrate the progress of our children. Parent education nights have given us even more strategies -- focusing on temperament, language development, and even bringing in a CEID graduate and her family to share their experience. The family understood what we were feeling, validated many concerns, but also gave us a vision of a successful future for our children. And again, they offered their support to all of us.

Each day as I bring my daughter through the doors of CEID, I feel I’m entering a community whose goal is to provide a stimulating and nurturing learning environment for my daughter. A vital part of that environment is a rich assortment of resources, tools, and knowledgeable individuals to help me better understand and support her on her journey. I am so grateful that our family is a part of this little CEID village.