Recent Posts

Due to a lack of use by its membership and a phenomenal increase in "spam" postings to this board, it will soon be shutting down.  We plan to move Hitch-Up communications to a Yahoo! group.

The first step of the shutdown is that registration is now disabled.  The boards will be left running for historical purposes for the foreseeable future.

More details will be coming soon.

Hello.  My name is Letitia Rhoades and I'm the proud Momma of 3 year old twin boys, Anthony (Auditory Neuropathy) and Jeremy (Sensori-neural bi-laterial hearing loss).  We currently live in Colorado and are looking at moving to the Raleigh area next Spring.  I was referred to your group by Beginnings as a great source of information.    

My boys will be in preschool this Fall and they have IEPs that gives them 4 half-days (3 hours) of preschool per week in CO, with some speech training and FM systems.  One of the biggest reasons for relocating so far away is that I'm having problems finding appropriate services for my boys.  We are learning Cued Speech at home and have been using Signing Exact English for a couple of years.  We work hard on speech and auditory skills, but need something more due to the days that Anthony is deaf and doesn't hear us at all.  The school district here has no Cued Speech assistance available and they don't use S.E.E. so Anthony will be reliant on gestures and speech reading on his bad hearing days (at school).  We are not sure if Jeremy might have AN also, so I have to keep that in mind.

I have an email out to Lynn Young (Wake School District preschool teacher).  I've spoken with Beginnings, CCSA, Learning Together Preschool, Primrose School and Janet Godbold (Wake School District).  I'm hoping your group can give me some advice on how to handle daycare outside of preschool hours.  Are there private daycares that have Cued Speech and/or SEE support?  What do you do with your young children after school hours if you're still working?  I have a great setup here in CO...I work from home (mostly) and I have a sitter that comes to my home to watch my boys.  My boys were premature and high risk so they couldn't attend any daycare settings with other children for the first 2 years.  One of our sitters knows basic SEE (learned along with us) and some Cued Speech, the other is proficient in SEE.  I think it will be very difficult to get that kind of setup going in NC.  I'd appreciate any suggestions you might have!

Also, we're looking at visiting the area (and hopefully schools/daycares) in late September - early October.  We're trying to attend a Cue Camp in VA at the same time.  Can any of you recommend areas we should look at overall?  We'll likely be renting for a while to check out the areas before buying.  A safe neighborhood is most important to us.  I have an office in Cary that I should stay withing driving distance to.

Thank you for "listening" and I hope to meet with some of you very soon.

Letitia

I am finally using the website that Josh made for us.  My name is Margot and I am one of the co-leaders of this support group which was started in May 2004.  I have two children.  My son Nikolai is 8 years old and my daughter Alyna is 4 1/2.  She is profoundly hearing impaired and has a cochlear implant.  She is doing very well and we are pleased with the services and support we have received. 

I work at the Raleigh CDSA as an evaluator, social worker and service coordinator so I am on both sides of the fence.  It is interesting to say the least.

I hope everyone will use this website to communicate with each other, ask questions, vent, etc.  And I will see you at our monthly meetings!

Margot Cook

7:00 p.m. Hitch Up monthly meeting at Providence Baptist Church on Glenwood.

This is a question I received in an email.
My name is Virginia Best and I will be a first-year Audiology student at the University of Buffalo in New York beginning in the fall.  I recently graduated from the University of North Carolina with a degree in Communications - Speech and Hearing Sciences.  After receiving my Doctor of Audiology degree, I hope to open a program (year-round/summer camp) for children who are deaf or hard of hearing.  I would like to come back here (to North Carolina) to do this and am beginning work now in order to assess the needs of those families who would benefit from this type of service.  My questions are: Is there a great need for a program/camp for children who are deaf/hard of hearing in North Carolina?  What area of North Carolina would benefit most?  What are the main needs of D/HOH children and their families here in NC?
 
I hope you will be able to answer some of my questions and give me insight on what I need to begin working towards.  Thank you in advance for your time.  If there is any way I could actually meet with someone or even the group at some point in time during my journey, I would greatly appreciate it.  Again, thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.

Hi Everyone,

I am pretty sure most of you know us by now too!  Anways, we are Alisa and Scott Oliver - we have two daughters, Emily (age 5) and Hannah (age 3).  Hannah was born  with a moderate to severe hearing loss due to Mondini Syndrome and EVA.  She has been aided since the age of eight weeks.  We have been involved in parent support groups since day one and find them to be extremely vital in this journey! 

Hannah has received speech and language since she was eight weeks old.  When we were getting ready for the preschool phase we found out quickly that we were not where we needed to be.  We looked long and hard into many options and then came across Lynn Young at Lacy - phew!  We decided to pick up, move and take a chance. I am so glad we did;it has been so worthwhile!  We have met many wonderful people down here who have been very supportive and are so glad we took the risk!!!

Alisa and Scott Oliver 

We took a field trip to view the completed website since wireless internet was only available in the lobby of the church.  Thank you Josh for showing us the site and for your work completing it.  When the domain name, host etc. has been worked out between Josh and Garima we will pass along the link to you all and you can then register and begin using it. 

We also discussed the completed brochure and passed around samples that Josh had printed.  Again, thank you Josh!

We discussed getting sponsors and brainstormed what these sponsors would be funding.

Ideas included:
1.funding the printing of the brochure
2.being able to pay for future guest speakers at
meetings
3.website
4.starting a scholarship fund to help families pay for
equipment when insurance doesn't cover it
5.social events for the group
6.trainings or workshops to attend

Potential sponsors included:
UNC Hospital
CCCDP/CASTLE
Cochlear Companies
Hearing Aid companies

We discussed having a yearly fundraiser and distribution of the brochure making sure to include all hospitals that do the newborn hearing screenings.

We discussed trying to copyright the logo on the brochure and website. 

We discussed whether to have summer meetings or not and it was decided we will have a meeting in June and August but not in July since the first tuesday in July is a holiday.  We will plan a few more social events for the summer as well.

Parents Present:
Lee Hyatt
Josh Davis
Natalie Skergan
Margot Cook
Alisa & Scott Oliver
Ronnie Angerer and Tammy Wells-Angerer
Mara Deutsch
Dee Nicol

Children Present:
Hannah Oliver
Emily Oliver
Sarah Skergan
Rachel Skergan
George Angerer
Ally Garber

See you all June 6th for the next meeting.

Thanks,
Margot and Natalie

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday June 6th as usual from 7-9 p.m.

There is no speaker scheduled, so this meeting will be an open discussion.

Topics: Early Childhood Speech and Language Development and Wake County Extended Learning and Preschool Programs

Guest Speakers: Heidi Binkley, MS-CCC, SLP from the Raleigh CDSA and Debra Rader, HI Itinerant Teacher with Wake County School District

Heidi Binkley, MS-CCC, SLP from the Raleigh CDSA spoke with us about early childhood speech and language development.  Debra Rader, HI Itinerant teacher from Wake County School District presented information about the Wake County Extended Learning and Preschool Programs and spoke about services available for hearing impaired children in Wake County.  She also discussed eligibility considerations for services.  This was a very interesting and informative meeting and we appreciated Heidi and Debra taking the time to share their knowledge and expertise with us at our meeting.  Thank you Heidi and Debra!

Parents Present:
Susan Allen
Lee Hyatt
Holly Medlin
Mara Deutsch
Margot Cook
Meredith and Josh Davis
Natalie Skergan
Alisa Oliver
Janice DeRosa
Garima Kamo
 
Children Present: (2 UNC Audiology students provided childcare- Thank you!!)
Boone Davis
Ally Garber
Alyna Cook
Nikolai Cook
Mary Helen Medlin
 
Thank you to Garima Kamo for bringing the refreshments to the April meeting.

See the attached flyer regarding details for the HITCH-UP picnic (joining the Charlotte and RTP chapters) on June 10th.

Hi guys!
 
Here is the flyer.  Let me know if you have any questions.  I hope to see
you all there!