Several years later, when Czerwiec’s little boy wasn’t talking or hearing well, Czerwiec had his hearing tested. Austin was diagnosed with severe hearing loss in both ears at age 2.

Austin, now 12 and a student at West Middle School in Muscatine, was 3 when he got his first set of hearing aids.

Czerwiec said there is no cure for the type of hearing loss Jennifer, now 18, and Austin have. But there are many things her family can do and has done to overcome the challenges of hearing impairment.

Today, Czerwiec is vice-president of the Muscatine County Parent Association for the Hearing Impaired, MCPAHI, a nonprofit organization that provides support, education and friendship for families with children who have hearing impairment.

“When I first joined the parent group back in 1996, I didn’t really understand what the group had to offer,” said Czerwiec. “First, I was trying to deal with the news that my children had hearing losses and what it meant to their futures. Over time, I began to realize that my children would never be able to hear the way I hear.”

Hearing-impairment professionals in the Muscatine Community School District, the Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency (AEA) 9 and other parents in the MCPAHI group provided Czerwiec with information she uses to help her children reach their full potential.

The AEA staff works with about 20 children and teens in Muscatine County who have significant hearing loss. Thirty more preschool and school age children are monitored regularly because they have the potential for significant hearing loss.

Identifying children begins at birth when babies are given hearing tests before they leave the hospital.

“The more you know about the hearing loss, the better you can help your child grow and learn. We learned that Austin, at the age of 3, needed to attend pre-school to increase his vocabulary by hearing other children his age talk,” said Czerwiec.

Michelle Hutton, president of the MCPAHI, learned her son, Joshua, now 6, had a hearing loss shortly after his birth in 1999. Joshua’s hearing loss is moderate but permanent.

Like the Czerwiec family, the Huttons found the advice and information they received from local educators, experts and the MCPAHI to be helpful and useful.

“We did a lot of things throughout Joshua’s infancy and childhood like reading a lot,” said Hutton.

The diligence paid off.

“Joshua’s in kindergarten and reading at a third-grade level,” said Hutton. “He’s so successful, he has normal speech and he’s learned to listen well. That’s something some people never learn to do.”

Hutton said members of the parenting group gave her reassurance and incentive to encourage her son to be independent.

“He needs to know how to put on his own hearing aides,” said Hutton. “And he has to be able to test his hearing aides to tell if the battery is low.”

The teachers in the Muscatine Community School District have helped her family make the transition to kindergarten easier, said Hutton.

“I can’t say enough good about them,” she said. “And all the teachers in the Muscatine Community School District who are part of the hearing impairment program choose to be members of the MCPAHI.”

By Cynthia Beaudette
http://www.muscatinejournal.com/articles/2006/02/03/news/doc43e4282d219b5610289461.txt