Claire and her twin brother, Riley, were born at 24 weeks and weighed 1 lb 12 oz each. While in the NICU she contracted MRSA and received ototoxic antibiotics that saved her life but took her hearing.

WISE was the best beginning in school that our son James could have had. The listening, spoken language, and interaction with other children with hearing needs helped prepare James for a thriving life.

Aiden is a triplet. He and his two sisters were born at 27 weeks. Aiden weighed 2lb 6 oz. at birth. He was very sick when he was born and stayed in the NICU for 3 months before coming home.

Me’Lajeh attended the Alabama School for Hearing, now known as WISE for two years. At WISE she was in a small group with children who were wearing hearing aids and cochlear implants just like her.

Our son, Nicholas, was four when we adopted him from China. We found out he was deaf and decided to proceed with cochlear implants even though we knew we were so far behind.

Laura was diagnosed with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss at 20 months old. Without the daily instruction of and the wonderful therapists at WISE, Laura would not be where she is today. Everyone at the school was so helpful and accommodating to get Laura the services she needed.

Today my daughter speaks her mind. Her vocabulary has increased tremendously and she now speaks in sentences instead of grunting and pointing. We quickly saw her frustration go down and behavior problems improve as a result of the new communication skills she was learning.

Luke started learning on his first day at the Hearing School. I got a video from the teacher after I dropped Luke and sat down in my office. I watched such a simple and short video again and again with tears in my eyes and joy in my heart. I was amazed how good he was in mimicking his teachers with the hearing aids on. I knew I needed to do the same thing at home every day.

The two years of therapy he received at the school optimized the AVT he had already received and, in my opinion, is the single factor that has contributed most to his current day success. Being immersed in spoken language and receiving AVT from certified therapists at WISE was one of the best decisions we could have ever made for our son.