The true sound of freedom

As parents of an adult child, who is profoundly deaf and non-implanted (Alissa), we experienced the hardships firsthand of not having the option of being heard or spoken to. We witnessed separation from others, the inability to communicate, as well as the frustration of not being able to communicate precisely, or understand what your child is trying to tell you. We lived with the struggles which a death person goes to in making and keeping friends because of the communication gap with other hearing people. The deafness caused severe isolation and loneliness. If there was any way to avoid this life and situation with our youngest daughter, Kalin, we knew we would have to take that path at any cost. Our daughter, Kalin was bilaterally implanted at the age of 20 months. We’ve had the blessing and honor of witnessing the miracle which the implant made come true. We saw her surprised expression on her face as sound entered her world for the first time. Once our daughter had the ability to hear she would now need to learn to listen. We were overwhelmed, and felt inadequate but we did not stop on this journey. The drive to bring our daughter’s Speech up to par with her friends was constant and sometimes overwhelming. When we heard about WISE, it seemed like a dream come true. The school was designed just for children like Kalin. It was a godsend and answer to prayer. We did what we had to do on our part to have Kalin in the program and the wonderful people at WISE met us much more than halfway. I witness parents from all over the state, make the journey, sometimes hours away, just to give their children the same opportunities as Kalin. Therefore, it’s our hope and prayers that the school and the fullness of life that it provides will be made
available to every child with a need regardless of their situation or circumstance.

Today Kalin speaks her mind, her vocabulary has been as good as her peers and she moves forward in lifeunabated by the challenges that she faces with her implants. You wouldn’t know that she was deaf by seeing how she performs in school, how she has made the cheerleading squad everyyear for several years and is now in high school as a freshman. We could continue to shower the school and the staff and especially Dr Wolley for everything they’ve done for us, but we’ll stop here. We want to encourage everyone to support this program and realize that this program does its job far above and beyond its call, it’s supplying miracles.

Sincerely,
James, Laura, Chandler & Kalin Sims