With Technology and Hard Work, My Son Eiler Beats the Odds

 

As the mother of a deaf child, I have been intimidated by statistics of low academic achievement, poor literacy skills, and difficulty learning foreign languages for my son Eiler. With the twin graces of medical technology (cochlear implants) and a hard-working personality, he has managed to avoid these difficulties. I don't mean to brag, but of course I'm proud. In eighth grade he won awards for his English as well as Spanish. What a tribute to his many hours of devoted study. It wasn't always this way. Eiler struggled to learn to read. In first grade, he gnawed pencils when it came time to decipher words and sat gripping the edges of his desk in fear of being called upon to read out loud.