Central Institute for the Deaf turns 100

ST. LOUIS -- When the normally bright Nolan Howard began to struggle academically last year, his parents quit their jobs and moved from Seattle to St. Louis.

The reason was simple, according to his mother, Mairead Iverson.

"St. Louis has the Central Institute for the Deaf," she told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The institute is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Success stories like those involving Nolan, now 8, are common.

The child developed mild-to-moderate hearing loss in one ear and moderate-to-severe hearing loss in the other around age 5. Iverson and her husband decided to move after doing Internet research.

Rather than sign language, CID uses the acoustic approach, where students are aided by digital hearing aids and cochlear implants allowing for partial hearing, while also learning to read lips.

Historically, the biggest obstacle faced by children with hearing loss has been learning to talk. The goal for CID and other institutions is to get children to the point where they can be "mainstreamed" into neighborhood schools.

When CID started in 1914, it had four students. Today, instructors are working with 200 children at any given time, students ranging from infants to 12-year-olds. They come from as far away as India.

Tuition is $27,000 a year, but no one is turned away. Some pay as little as $10 per month. Private donations provide the bulk of funding.

Executive director Robin Feder said the acoustic approach involves a lot of repetition, especially for the younger students. Children in small groups may be led through an exercise where they play with a baby doll as the instructor talks to them constantly, repeating words like "bottle," "diaper" and "crying."

Later, in larger group play sessions, teachers will keep close watch on the children who are not saying the words instructors are trying to drill into them. Students who don't pick up the words will start the lesson over the next day, Feder said.

Older students are taught in more traditional classroomlike settings, learning subjects they would study at a mainstream school. All the while, audiologists work with a sound booth where they test students' level of hearing. Feder said a key part of what CID does is match a student's level of hearing with the proper technology and devise a specific learning plan.