♪ [indistinct chatter] Friend> I'm so lost in logic!

Do you understand this?

Michael> What happened?

<Huh> What happened?

Friend> I don't understand it.

Michael> I don't understand it, either.

Friend> You don't?

<Nah> Good.

We'll go in together, okay?

Michael> Oh, yeah, sure.

Okay.

Friend> See ya... Tom Fowler> Michael Tecklenburg is from Charleston, South Carolina.

He is a freshman at South Carolina College, the honor's program of the University of South Carolina.

Michael also has a profound hearing loss.

He is deaf.

His acceptance at this university and five others came after graduation from a college prepartory high school in St.

Louis.

Before that, he was at St.

Joseph's Institute for the Deaf in St.

Louis.

His success now, is a point on a road which began before kindergarten, when his deafness was discovered.

Our story begins with a child, a quiet observer of a world he could not hear or perhaps understand clearly.

Our story leaves Michael now as a full participant in a hearing world.

Our story is one of what can happen to some children, and what has happened, to one young man.

Michael> When I first came here, I was nervous, in a state of anxiety, from the simple point that I didn't really know anybody since I'd been out of state for so long.

But it took me about ten minutes to get over it.

But, anyway.... So it went over really very smooth here when I first came here, and people go, "Gee, I didn't know that person could do that."

I say, "No problem, piece of cake."

Esther> We noticed about the time that Michael was two years old that he was not developing speech at all and did not understand anything we were saying to him.

Consequently, we found out later we were doubly handicapping him because the large family that he was a part of were all waiting on him.

He was communicating, in a sense, with a little brother of his, next in line, who was about a year older that was continually screaming at Michael, at this time.

Paul and Michael were placed in a kindergarten at the time that Michael was four years old.

And I asked the teacher to watch him carefully for about a month and tell me what she thought.

At this time, we thought there was a possibility that Michael was retarded.

At the end of the month's time, the kindergarten teacher told us that she felt that that retardation was not Michael's problem, but that he was possibly deaf.

> It was... strange, but I never felt that he was retarded.

But I didn't know.

I mean, I didn't know personally what it was or how it was.

We took Michael to a series of doctors without good results.

The arrangements for the testings were not good.

It was not until he was taken to a hearing and speech center that we found out Michael had an 80 decibel loss, which was almost at speech level.

We arranged for hearing aids and placed him in a kindergarten for deaf children in Columbia.

After the kindergarten days, we made a decision to place Michael in public school but realized he would not get too much out of the classroom.

There was no program for handicapped, and we hired a tutor that taught him one-to-one arithmetic and reading for the first hour of every day.

He then went to the classroom for the remainder of the school day.

And in the afternoon, we took him to the hearing and speech clinic that State College had on campus in Orangeburg.

A very gifted audiologist taught him lip-reading and speech during this period when he was possibly six and seven.

When Michael was through the second grade, we came to the conclusion that he was really getting very little of his education out of the classroom.

He did not have the skills to understand his teacher, and his social adaptability was not good.

We were teaching him language and vocabulary each day to match his reading words, and I fully realized that third-grade vocabulary would not make it possible to teach him all the words he needed to know for each day's class.

We decided to take him to St.

Louis, to an excellent testing center, the Central Institute for the Deaf.

And, too, at this time, Michael had a further hearing loss, and when he was tested, he was considered profoundly deaf.

The testing center recommended that Michael have a period of four or five years of special education in a school, preferably an oral school, for the deaf, and they felt after this period, he would be able to mainstream into a regular hearing classroom.

Henry> No question at all that we completely felt it was the right path.

When Mrs.

Tecklenburg turned to me at St.

Joseph's and said, "If they would take him"- this was on our first visit to St.

Joseph's.

"If they would keep Michael at St.

Joseph's, I would leave him here today."

The quest for what we wanted to do was over.

Michael> At first, it was difficult, and the constant desolation.

And then later on, when I caught up with everything, it became much easier, but then the problem with me was I was very naturally indiscreet.

And gave 'em as much problems as I could.

So they're probably glad that I left.

Teacher> "Look, they picked a pail full of blueberries!"

Then what happened?

[speaking indistinctly] They picked some blueberries, and then what did they do... Layla?

Layla> Elmer's mouth watered as he watched the people eat some of the pie for supper.

Teacher> That's right, good for you.

Elmer's mouth watered as he watched the people eat some of the pie for supper.

Then what happened?

Layla> With his feet dripping with cherry juice, Elmer spelled out, 'Blueberry pie, please!'

Teacher> Who knows which one's first?

Can you read to me which one is first?

[girl speaking indistinctly] Teacher> You can just read it from there, I'll pick it.

Mary> St.

Joseph Institute for the Deaf is a private school for profoundly deaf, hearing-impaired students, and it was begun in 1837, and it has been serving hearing-impaired students since that time.

We have an auditory-oral philosophy, which means that we teach the children to speak and to lip-read and to use their residual hearing with amplification so they can communicate with other people.

And it is our philosophy that the children do learn to communicate by talking and lip-reading so that they can communicate with everyone in the mainstream of society, which is, of course, a hearing world.

Well basically, with the auditory-oral philosophy, we feel that we are preparing the children to communicate with everyone, whereas children who would be learning sign language and depended on sign language would be limited in their communication to people who also knew sign language.

So we feel, it's a broader form of education for the children, and then they are better equipped to go out and meet the needs of a hearing world.

Teacher #2> Did you get that close to it?

Did you look him in the eye?

I don't think I would like to get that close to a snake to find out if it's poisonous or non-poisonous.

Is there another way you can find out?

Is there another way, Allison?

[speaking indistinctly] Teacher #2> Pardon me?

Mary> The true implications of a profound hearing loss are basically in two areas.

Because the children in our population, have been deaf since birth, they have never heard a normal voice.

Therefore, they don't imitate it.

Hearing people learn this process of imitation by listening the first two years of their life to their siblings and parents, and then they begin to speak.

And because deaf children have not heard that, speech must be taught in a very structured situation.

The other implication is in the area of language.

And the same process happens to hearing people with language and speech.

They take this in for a two-year period, assimilate it and then they can have their own internal language structure to use when they talk.

With deaf children, they have not heard the structures of our language.

So, they need to learn that in a very formal structured situation.

It would be very much like our learning a foreign language.

But the children have never heard it, therefore they have to be taught it in a structured format.

Cathy> Bet.

Student> Bet.

Cathy> Tuh.

Student> Tuh.

Cathy> Can you feel that?

Tuh.

Student> Tuh.

Cathy That's good.

Okay.

For a deaf child, learning how to talk is a very difficult process, and I think it must instill in them a feeling of success, of security about themselves, and being able to say, "Well, I can do just about anything if I've learned how to do this."

Because it is definitely a very hard way to go for many of them.

And not hearing that speech certainly, makes it twice as hard.

You have to have a certain amount of patience, and I say that you love the children first, and they are willing to perform if you love them.

And I think that's... what I would think is very basic to a speech lesson because a speech lesson is a very taxing experience because it's drill and drill, over and over again.

And I think if they know that you care about them, that you're trying to help them, they will perform for you.

(student and teacher speaking) That's soft.

> Mike, how does it feel to be back at St.

Joseph's?

Michael> It feels very nice.

I haven't been here in a while.

Roseanne> Do you remember how long it's been since the first time you came?

How many years has that been?

Michael> Four.

Roseanne> When you first came to St.

Joseph's?

Michael> I was here for four years.

Roseanne> How long ago?

Michael> Um... about 1970.

Roseanne> It was in 1970.

That's been a while ago.

Would you like to go upstairs and see your room in the dorm?

Michael> That'd be nice.

Roseanne> Okay, let's go in here.

Michael, do you remember, this was your room when you were here.

Michael> Yes, I remember.

And that was my bed.

Roseanne> That's right.

May I have a seat over here?

Okay.

What do you remember about your first- The first day that you came to St.

Joseph's?

Michael> Well, I was... full of anxiety.

Roseanne> You were full of anxiety?

Michael> Yes, I didn't know what it would be like.

And... after that, I got homesick after my parents left.

Roseanne> Most of the children would get pretty homesick, that first night particularly.

<Yes> For you, I remember... I thought it would be more difficult for you because when you came, you were a little bit older, and the other children had been here before, so I was concerned for you in how you were going to relate to the other boys and how you would get along in the dorm.

But if I remember correctly, you did very well and made some friends with the boys.

[swings squeaking] > When I had the dorms and playground- I had that all together- I tried to make it home for the children who were away, so far away from their parents.

But there are many times when a child becomes very homesick, and they ask if they can call their parents, and when that happens, the parents usually say, "Let them call."

So we go with them to the phone and call their parents.

It seems that just a brief talking on the phone, they feel satisfied that they've talked with their parents.

I mean, they want to... some of them say a lot, and others just want to say, "Mom, I miss you, I'm lonesome I want to come home."

Maybe that kind of a thing.

I'm sure Mom and Dad saw the tears on the other side, but they seem to come out of it very beautifully.

On the next day, it's another beautiful day.

Esther> I will never be sorry that we made the decision to place Michael in the St.

Louis area.

He could not be the same person that he is now if we'd kept him at home.

I know that I would've sheltered him.

After Michael had been a boarding student for approximately four years, we were asked if it would be possible for him to live with a family that wanted to have him.

The school, St.

Joseph's felt that Michael would progress much faster if he were constantly in a hearing environment.

He had more language than most of the children in the dormitory at that time, and he needed to use it after school hours.

We were introduced to the Spehrs, Carol and Jim, who opened their home and their hearts to Michael.

And he became their child just as much as he was ours.

> We met Michael in 1974, when we were asked whether or not we would consider taking Michael into a family environment because the school was considering mainstreaming him the following year.

And, he has been here now eight years, and he's grown from a cute little fifth-grader into a 18-year-old high school graduate that's on his way to college.

The process of mainstreaming- the word mainstreaming has been coined by some of the special education community to indicate taking some child that has special needs, a learning problem of some type, and integrating them into a more normal environment, such as a normal classroom environment.

Carol> Mainstreaming is a very complex problem.

There are so many considerations to be taken.

Academically, they have to have many skills, language skills, speech skills... all the skills that are necessary to fit into a classroom where they are not disruptive, and that with a minimum amount of support system, they can be, in quotes, "one of the children in the class."

Making those decisions, you have the faculty at St.

Joseph's, and you'd have the parents' support and then most important, the student's desire to mainstream, and then also the support of the faculty at the school he's going into.

Michael> So I went to a small school, called Linda Vista, which helped me in the sense that all the classes were small, and my class only had about ten people in it, Though I was able to anticipate some of the problems that I would have, and had, later on.

For example... I have to learn to communicate with them.

Because I had to really figure out what kind of things do they talk about.

Do they talk about sports?

I had to learn how to do that.

Do they talk about... who's... who is dating who.

I have to try to learn how to talk their language because it was different.

Carol> Michael is classified as a profoundly deaf student.

He functions more as a hard of hearing.

He does pick up some sounds.

Without his hearing aid, he does not pick up anything.

With his amplification, he can- You can call him from the other room, and he will respond.

He can use a hearing amplification instrument on a telephone and pick up most of the conversation depending on his comfortableness with the person on the other end.

Michael has had fortunate training in auditory training.

He's used the telephone.

His desire has increased a great deal.

When he became of age to date, his desire to use the phone increased a hundredfold!

He used some amplification on the phone.

And then if he gets into a difficult situation, then he calls on either Jim or myself.

Jim> Well, in Michael's case, Michael is a very excellent lip-reader, and generally children that have had good oral training early, in their early years and have some sort of amplification assistance, the amplification will get their attention, and you will also have some form of distorted speech that they are picking up.

But the most important thing is to make sure that you are speaking at the individual, and trying not to overaccentuate your words or anything.

They will pick up normal speech patterns as long as you are normal speaking to them.

In Michael's case, many of his fellow students have indicated to us they don't recognize Michael has a hearing impairment... anymore.

They did when he first joined them.

But Now... they say the only difference they know of Michael, they tap him on the shoulder to get his attention or something so when they do speak to him, he turns towards them.

They are not consciously recognizing that he is hearing-impaired.

> Chaminade College Preparatory, as the name implies, has a rather limited curriculum, limited to a traditional solid college preparatory program.

A very high percentage of our students enter college, most of them immediately after their senior year.

This year in our graduating class of 120, we expect 118 of them to be in college next fall.

Rev.

Osborne> The first time I met Michael was at the interview that we had set up for his admission or his possible admission.

Because, we weren't certain at that time, that we were going to accept him.

And naturally we were concerned because this was the first person that we had- In fact, I even learned a new word that day, mainstreaming.

To bring a student like this in.

I believe the high point of Michael's stay here was when he ran for student council.

I knew he was going to run because every student has to take out papers and get them signed by a certain number of students and so forth.

But we had then an assembly at which Michael had to speak to the entire student body.

I wasn't really concerned about his own peers.

Because he'd been here and he was a junior and he knew all of the juniors.

I was concerned about the other students those younger than he, who didn't know him and he didn't know himself personally.

But he got up to speak, and I was touched by the reaction.

Which was really, no reaction.

They treated him the same as they treated everyone else.

He did an outstanding job.

And I was so moved by that, I immediately called Mr.

Tecklenburg in South Carolina.

I told him, "I think we made it.

This was the final test, and he passed."

And it was a great day for all of us.

Michael> When I was first- My first year there was perhaps my most difficult year because I had to know everybody, and everybody had to know me.

More than that, they had to understand that... they would understand that I was different from them in a way, and I was not always able to keep up with the conversation, talk the proper way, et cetera.

As time went on, I think what happened is understanding that when I do something, the fact that I was deaf became divorced from their mind.

I don't think they thought about it nearly as much as when I first came.

> Originally when he was elected, and they said we took responsibilities down the line, and he was, or he chose to take student council services.

I didn't think in my mind, he was gonna be able to do it because there was so much communication involved.

I thought there was too much phone conversations, and talking to people, being able to arrange things.

I didn't think he was going to be able to do it.

But then, he did it, somehow, I don't know!

He came out and he had no problem with it whatsoever.

At least, he didn't show us he had a problem.

Maybe he did, but he kept it to himself.

He was able to handle it just like anyone else, would have handled it and even better at times.

Jim> He is graduating from a very good college preparatory high school in St.

Louis, and he competed very well in that high school, and he's enjoyed a very... normal high school for an 18-year-old boy.

Carol> Besides opening his own world up, St.

Louis, he's become a part of our family, Jim's family.

He's become part of a neighborhood, part of a parish, part of... a day student at Chaminade.

And now all that chapter's gonna be closed, and everyone is looking in anticipation what next year holds for him.

They have... been very supportive.

Our friends and our relatives have included him in on many activities and are as hopeful as we are that he has much success.

Esther> We regret, that years ago, there were no programs in the state that fit Michael's needs.

I am sure the programs today, as good as they are, are not as good as what we found in St.

Louis.

Today, doctors are much more aware- and hospitals are, too- about early screening, particularly for high-risk babies.

It is to our regret that we learned so late of Michael's handicap.

Much more could have been done for him, just as a small baby, if we had known earlier in his lifetime.

We regret, too, that programs that we found in St.

Louis were not available in South Carolina.

Today, in many places, there are children that are able to stay home.

> South Carolina College is an honor's college.

It's designed to attract and retain the best students in the state- throughout the country, really- to get them to come to Carolina in the midst of a big university environment to be exposed to an intimate intellectual environment.

Most of them live here on the Horseshoe.

Most of them are in small classes, lecture-type classes or lab sessions that are small.

They are seminar-oriented.

The average SAT of the young people- we admit about 120 to 150 each fall- is 1350, very bright, stimulating to be around, exciting, lots of fun, intellectually curious.

It's tough to succeed in South Carolina College because the peer standards are very high.

The faculty standards are very high.

It's an extraordinary experiment within a major university.

Most colleges don't have anything like this.

Now, we have Mike in this program, and it's kind of a fascinating thing to see this young man, with his abilities, move into a setting which is characterized by bright people who don't have any hurdles to overcome really.

> When we looked at Michael's records on paper, there was nothing particularly startling about them.

He is a good student with a strong academic record and demonstrating a lot of academic promise.

Well, all of the students entering the honor's college ought to have, and indeed do have that kind of record.

But what came through so strongly and made his case for admission overwhelmingly positive was his own force and determination.

Esther> If parents can look at Michael after years of intensive and specialized education and realize that their child, too, may achieve the education that Michael has received, it gives them a great deal of hope.

Michael> I met some people who, experience has been limited to deaf people with sign language as total communication.

So they see the difference between the two.

But, of course, some people have a strong belief in that... as what type of education a deaf person should get.

Far as I'm concerned, it should be whatever's best for that individual person.

That's a difficult decision to make.

It worked for me.

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