Will

My son, Will was diagnosed as profoundly deaf at birth. He received his first implant at 10 months and his second implant at 22 months. We attended AVT weekly and talked at home constantly, but it wasn’t until he attended The Alabama School for Hearing, now known as the Woolley Institute for Spoken-Language Education (WISE) that his language took off. I liken the school to a match that set afire the previous years worth of kindling. The lessons the kids took each day were real-world but unique (building birdhouses, running a restaurant) and filled with new and expanding vocabulary words.

His social skills improved greatly too, being around kids just like him. He took leadership roles in the WISE classroom that have paved the way for his success today as an 8th grader at Homewood Middle School. Will has mostly A’s and is fully mainstreamed. He is active in sports (basketball, tennis and cross-country), and loves Auburn, politics and his family.

Jennifer Andress
Will’s Mom