For the month of August, we are donating to the The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing helps families, health care providers and education professionals understand childhood hearing loss and the importance of early diagnosis and intervention. Through advocacy, education, research and financial aid, AG Bell helps to ensure that every child and adult with hearing loss has the opportunity to listen, talk and thrive in mainstream society. AG Bell is the premier nonprofit organization serving the oral deaf and hard of hearing community.
From Spa Director, Jackie Busa:
"I first learned of the AG Bell Association about 16 years ago when our baby and toddler were found to have profound and significant levels of hearing loss.
Over the years of raising our children, I have drawn upon the strength and depth of this organization in ways that have affected our children’s ability to communicate and connect to the broader hearing community.
An illustration of the AG Bell support for parent advocacy and knowledge of the law came into play in our lives through my prevailing in a mediated conflict resolution with our former county’s special education. Through AG Bell’s advice and empowerment, we created an integrated, language-rich preschool for the youngest children with hearing loss who previously would have been isolated in a mixed-disabilities style classroom without any typically developing peers.
That preschool program still exists to serve today’s preschoolers with hearing loss who need intensive opportunities to access, learn and practice spoken language.
We are so proud and grateful that our children have developed the language and reading/writing skills that are at least on par with their hearing peers, thanks to the dedicated pursuit of understanding their needs and providing that as best we could, with the help of many. "