HEAR HERE Part of ADA 20th Anniversary Celebration

July 31st:

The disability pride celebration marking the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act took place in Central Park, Davis this last Saturday. Hear Here! was one of the featured groups for the event along with other local entities.

There was a very good turn out and the parade around the park made for an impressive sight and sound, with Hear Here signs visible within the crowd and the chant "ADA, ADA Here to Stay" reverberating around the square.

The program that followed the parade featured representatives from all the political bodies, Federal, State, County to City, taking turns to acknowledge this major anniversary of "civil rights for everyone" as well as representatives from other support groups in the area. Laurie Loving from our board was one of the featured speakers along side Lucinda Talkington from Outa Sight. Numerous performers also donated their time helping to make the morning a true celebration.

Thanks to the Davis Senior Center Laurie was able to ensure that Listening Devices, connected to the sound system, were available to those who needed them. There was also two volunteer sign language interpreters available throughout the program. 20 years ago, these services would not have been available for a gathering of this kind; it is the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act that ensures we can all join in and enjoy these events. Hear Here! also hosted a table offering information about our group and the services currently available to the hard of hearing.

Organizers of the event said that they hoped to " strengthen the pride, power and unity of people with disabilities, our families and allies" and "challenge the way many people think about and define 'disability'" [Davis Enterprise].

Everyone present had a good time marking this most important Act of Legislation.

2010 PRESCHOOL HEARING TESTS

 A "RESOUNDING" SUCCESS.

This year for the first time our preschool testing took place over four days and included Davis as well as Woodland. A total of 163 preschool aged children from eight preschools were screened for possible hearing loss. Fourteen children failed the test and were advised to have their hearing checked again by a doctor and an audiologist. Hearing is vital to success in school. Accomplishing first-grade reading skills relies on careful listening. These skills include knowing the difference between letters, words, and sentences, and figuring out what a word is by sounding out the letters. Local preschool hearing tests have been sponsored in Woodland and in Davis by Hear! Here!, local chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America [HLAA], with funding supplied by Woodland Reveille Lions Club, the Community Benefit Committee of Woodland Healthcare, and Soroptimists International of Davis.
The article below, which ran in the Daily Enterprise, discusses the Davis Testing. Kathy Glatter who's son is mentioned in the article is one of Hear! Here!'s Advisory Board Members.

Preschoolers' screening catches hearing loss early

By Laurie Loving
Special to The Enterprise
May 27, 2010 09:17

Thanks to the efforts of a local physician, dozens of Davis preschoolers have been screened for hearing loss. Early detection is key, she says.
'We were devastated to learn that our beautiful little boy was hearing-impaired, especially late in the game, at age 6,' said Kathy Glatter, M.D., a Woodland Healthcare cardiologist and mother of Jack Maurantonio, now 7. 'Because his hearing loss developed after he had acquired language, Jack is very verbal and you would never dream he had a hearing loss.'
Glatter was frustrated with the teacher's frequent reports that Jack was 'not listening and not following directions.' Last year, after ruling out ADHD, she took him to an audiologist, who diagnosed a moderate to severe conductive hearing loss in the right ear.
'Jack tested normal at birth. They think it developed during repeated ear infections, although I obviously took him to the pediatrician and Jack took the antibiotics, got ear tubes and had his tonsils and adenoids removed.'
Glatter was most disturbed by the fact that Jack had passed the routine hearing screening at the pediatrician's office at ages 5 and 6.
'Actually, their screening totally missed that he had become pretty much deaf in his right ear,' she said. 'I thought this would only happen to kids that don't get to a doctor.'
If Jack had been in public kindergarten, the state-mandated screening would have picked it up, but he was in private school, which does not test. Preschools do not routinely provide hearing screenings either.
'What if I had not requested a specialist? We would still think Jack had normal hearing! It bothered me that other children may be in school with an undiagnosed hearing loss,' Glatter said.
Seeking a solution, she contacted the Hear! Here! support group for hard-of-hearing people in Woodland and was soon asked to join its advisory board. The group coordinates with the Agency for Hearing in Sacramento to provide hearing screenings at Woodland preschools for a reasonable fee. A nonprofit, the agency sends mobile hearing screening vans to schools all over Northern California to provide the state-mandated tests to more than 100,000 children in kindergarten through high school.
Impassioned, Glatter got busy finding funding for the Davis preschools. She sent out four proposals and got positive responses from two sources.
'My practice is with Woodland Healthcare and they donated $1,000. Soroptimist International of Davis contributed $500,' she said. 'I am so grateful that both groups understood the importance of identifying children with hearing loss as early as possible.'
Earlier this month, a total of 58 children at Davis Parent Nursery School and University Covenant Nursery School were tested for hearing loss. Two days later, 44 children were screened at LaRue Park and Russell Park Child Development Centers.
'Out of 102 preschoolers, ages 4 and 5, 12 failed the test,' Glatter said. 'One child's hearing loss was in both ears, at ... over 50 percent in laymen's terms. I gave all the parents the screening results, and we recommended they go to an audiologist for follow-up and more in-depth testing. They were surprised, but grateful for the screening.'
Glatter is still learning to cope with her son's hearing loss.
'This is not what parents plan for, but Jack loves his hearing aid and wears it all the time. He is doing much better at school now, and next fall the teacher will wear a microphone that transmits wirelessly to the hearing aid (an FM system). I'm happy that our preschool hearing tests can find other kids like Jack and help them!'
For information on preschool testing, contact Glatter at k_ glatter@yahoo.com. For information on hearing loss for all ages, contact Claire Childers, Hear! Here! chapter leader, at hearherewoodland@gmail.com

BILL FAIRFIELD OF MUMBO GUMBO AT MONDAY'S MEETING in DAVIS

Noise-induced hearing loss is something that can happen for many reasons; being around construction machinery; near loud amplified music for long periods of time; being too close to gun fire; working in industrial settings with heavy equipment; and using large agricultural machinery are prime examples.
Come learn from Betty McNamara, a Woodland Healthcare audiologist, how extended periods of exposure to loud noise levels can cause permanent hearing loss; from Billy Wagster, Yolo County's Veterans Service Officer, how help is being offered to our veterans with hearing loss resulting from military service; and listen to Bill Fairfield's personal story of his hearing loss which happened while he was playing in the rock band Mumbo Gumbo.

REMINDER: this meeting is being held this Monday the 26th, at 10.00am in the DAVIS SENIOR CENTER at 646 A Street, Davis

HEAR HERE! THANKS LOCAL GROUPS FOR THEIR SUPPORT
Board member Dr. Glatter applied for, and received, $1,000.00 from the Community Benefit Committee of the Woodland Healthcare and $500.00 from Soroptimist International of Davis. With the $500.00 already received from the Woodland Reveille Lions Club, we were able to contract for testing on May 4th and 5th at 4 preschools in Woodland and Davis.
It is not too late for individuals to donate to the program. One donation of $7.50 may save a child with an unrecognized hearing loss from a life of struggling to catch up to others in school.

Please make your check payable to:

 HLAA Woodland Chapter

and mail to:

HLAA Woodland Chapter

Atten: Preschool Hearing Test Program

2513 Madrid Court

Davis CA 95616

Thank you

THANKS

WOODLAND HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION has donated $1,000.00 to the Hear! Here! Preschool Hearing Test Program. Thanks to this generous donation along with the continueing support of the WOODLAND REVEILLE LIONS CLUB the program this year has expanded to two days, May 4th and 5th, and also has been expanded to include schools in Davis as well as Woodland.
The program provides for pre-school children to be tested for hearing loss with the goal of identifying children that need help before they start school and fall behind. The cost of testing is $450.00 per school.
An individual may also donate to the project, just $7.50 pays for a test for one student. You can help prevent a child with an unrecongnized hearing loss from a life of struggling to catch to others in school. Make checks payable to : HLAA Woodland Chapter 2513 Madrid Court, Davis, CA 95616

NEXT MEETING: Monday, March 22, 2 p.m.at the Woodland Community and Senior Center, 2001 East Street, Woodland
TOPIC:
Summer Camp for children with hearing loss. Leading the presentation about the Lions Wilderness Camp for Deaf Children will be Franklin Anderson, Lions board vice president of Camp Ross Relles near Nevada City.
The Lions Service for Children Projects addresses needs for children in disadvantaged circumstances. Deaf and hard-of hearing kids often lack social opportunities that other children enjoy because of communication difficulties. At Camp Ross Relles, the deaf and hard-of-hearing child may enjoy camping with their peers in a setting especailly designed for children with hearing loss.
Join us there!

Machine-Generated Captions on YouTube!

View Google's Blog to see video

Ken Harrenstien software engineer for Google announced that the company's accessibility team has developed a system for using automatic speech recognition technology [ASR] to create machine-generated automatic captions [auto-caps] for certain videos on YouTube. Every minute of every hour of every day, 20+ hours of video are uploaded to the Internet with the vast majority of the audio content inaccessible to the deaf or hearing impaired. The new technology automatically generates captions for user generated video. Mr. Harrenstein who is himself deaf stated that while the captioning is not yet perfect "compared to nothing this is wonderful". The viewer will be able to select the closed captioning icon to view the captions, and will also be able to make the text larger or smaller and to change the background color to maximize the readability of the captions. The system is being currently tested by the 13 partners involved in the initial launch, including the local institutes of UC Berkley, Stanford and UCLA, before being release to the public.

In addition to the automatic captions Google also announced the launch of "auto-timing" which makes it significantly easier for YouTube video makers who wish to create captions to do so manually without having any special expertise. Google's ASR is able to use a simple text file that contains all the words in the video to figure out when the words are spoken in the video and insert them in the appropriate place. This system is in place and Google asked for users to provide them feedback so that they can improve and develop the system as needed.

These two systems are seen as a major step in Google's stated mission of making the Internet available and accessible for all.

HOT DOG of a Meeting

WOW, What a meeting we had last Monday.

To begin with we watched a DVD from the Sam Simon Program, headquartered in Malibu, on the training
and use of dogs for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The program uses
carefully selected dogs rescued from the pound. These dogs have to be:

Confident: Outgoing: a Assertive: Friendly: and Healthy!

We also learnt that Hearing Dogs provide their owners an amazing variety of services including:
Alerting the owner to smoke alarms, door bells and phones that are ringing; Informing the owner that food has finished cooking both on the stove and in the microwave; Bringing back items the owner may have dropped; and Ensuring that the owner knows if someone is calling them or talking to them from behind.

  One very poignant moment in the DVD was when a ten year old boy talked about how he feels much safer when he is walking down the street as his dog will alert him if there is someone behind him. I think that hearing people so not realize how isolating being totally deaf can be and how that must be, especially for children. The boy's mother says that having a Hearing Dog has helped her son become more socially active with the other children in the neighborhood and by extension more of a typical teenager.
After the DVD we were treated to seeing two Canine Companions for Independence [CCI] dogs, Cali and Caspir and their owners, Don and Walis, do their thing!

Cali is a Hearing Dog and demonstrated all the techniques she has for keeping Don her owner alerted to what is happening around him. She responded to a timer going off, she noticed when Don dropped his keys and picked them up for him, she went and got his attention when Walis called to him from across the room.

Walis, the owner  of Caspir, gave the group an understanding of the rigorous training that CCI dogs have to undergo in order to qualify to be a certified  Hearing Dog. Only 20% of dogs make it all the way through the training. Training is spread out over the first 2 1/2 years of the life of the dog with the last 6 months or so being on training specifically for work as a Hearing Dog.

Owners are also required to go to two weeks intensive training during which they are matched with a dog.
There is final test where the owner and dog go out to a busy public venue such as a mall to test the dogs ability to perform complex tasks in a noisy crowded area.  

                        
One thing that Walis told us that is pretty amazing is that she is teaching her dog Caspir to respond to American Sign Language...which she demonstrated for us.

It was quite impressive to see both these dogs working in public and being so very responsive to their owners. Both dogs ignored everyone else in the room until at the end of the class they were given permission to "release" and then they were just the friendliest dogs you could image.

YES, it really was a great demonstration and we have to thank Don, Walis , Cali and Caspir for giving up their time and sharing the wonder of these dogs with us. They made you want to run out and get a dog right away!

Dogs at November Meeting!

What a treat! At next Monday's November meeting we will hear from members of the Canine Companions on the training of Hearing Loss Dogs! These are amazing companions for the people who can't hear the doorbell or telephone. Did you know that hearing dogs are allowed on planes when you fly? They can even let you know when your microwave signals "Food is ready"

A hearing loss dog will be on hand to demostrate...

NOVEMBER 16TH 2 p.m.
WOODLAND COMMUNITY AND SENIOR CENTER

ROOM WILL BE SIGNED AT ENTRY

See you all there!

Walk4Hearing Over!

Well,
The walk is over. All seemed to go well I think. We received a final donation of $40.00 that took us just over our goal of raising $600.00 so thank you to everyone who contributed to the cause! We will keep you posted as to how the monies are spent.
Again, thanks everyone!

Walk4Hearing just five days away!

Just five more days until the HLAA 's Walk4Hearing is held at Long Beach. The good news is that HEAR! HERE! has raised $570.00 so far for this fundraiser. A percentage of the funds raised by the HLAA"S Walk4Hearing is sent back to the local chapters to help sponsor programs. HEAR! HERE!'s main program for the year is providing free hearing tests to pre-school children that otherwise might not receive this invaluable service. Each test costs $7.50 per child. So, obviously, the more we raise the more children we can help.

If you are reading this page won't you help by going to the link at the bottom of the previous posting and donating to the "Woodland Walkers" your local team. Any amount large or small will help give one more child an opportunity to be tested.

Thanks

Walk4Hearing Fundraiser

Sponsor the "Woodland Walkers" for the Walk4Hearing

This year the California Walk4Hearing is being held in Southern California at Long Beach. The goal of the Walk4Hearing is to increase the awareness about the causes and consequences of hearing loss and to raise funds to provide information and support for people with hearing loss. In addition, your local chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America [HLAA] , HEAR! HERE! recieves a percentage of each donation made in its name for use at the local level. Last year, as a direct result of generous contributions, the chapter received $600.0, which enabled us to defray a portion of the costs of offering free hearing tests to over 100 pre-school children.

Although we will not send a team down to Long Beach we have a team called the "Woodland Walkers" created to support the Walk4Hearing and to raise funds needed to expand our free hearing testing for pre-school children. Good hearing skills are critical in the developing of a child's social and emotional growth, reading readiness skills and pre-math education. Won't you help us provide this essential service. Simply click onto our team page at: http://hlaa.convio.net/site/TR/Teamraiser/2009LongBeachWalk?team_id=14380&pg=team&fr_id=1600 and select the team captain as the person you wish to sponsor.

Any amount large or small helps.

Thank you for you support!

Welcome to HearHereWoodland the blog for the Woodland Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America.
We are your local source for information on hearing loss and work to bring information to the public on the effects of hearing loss on the general public