We had a very positive experience at HSCNC and highly recommend the center for those needing resources and therapy.
My four year-old son worked with Hazel, a speech therapist, for the past several months. She is professional, was always on time and courteous, communicated consistently with me regarding my son’s progress, and had effective and manageable advice on things to do at home with my son. And she did a great job as her services are no longer needed. The staff was very helpful in managing some challenges with our insurance company (multiple phone calls, much redundant and unnecessary paperwork, etc.) and was always very attentive and as helpful as they could be. Knowing that HSCNC is a non-profit makes me appreciate all the more the high quality of care and service provided, given funding and other challenges to non-profits.
The education system in America can be described as far from perfect, especially when concerning children with disabilities. Growing up, and attending school, as a hearing impaired child can be extremely difficult. Simple tasks like hearing instruction is one’s early school years and more complicated tasks like hearing and understanding complex lectures and class discussions in one’s later school years can be surprisingly difficult without developing strategies to combat these disadvantages and give one an equal opportunity to learn.
In the transition program I had the opportunity to gather some work experience, while developing these skills and communication strategies that I have developed for the classroom and showed me how I could apply them to other fields as well. The types of work experience that I was exposed to varied, but some examples were working with young hearing impaired children and working with the same children in a summer camp program. It was an amazingly rewarding program, not only professionally, but emotionally and mentally as well. I would highly recommend this program to anyone who has the will to further develop themselves for both the workplace and further education. I know that the essential foundation of skills that I have learned and developed will continue to help me not only in my continued education at UC Berkeley, but also beyond as I move into my career.
Losing my hearing has been quite a process. It’s only in the last few months that I feel acceptance for what I can do and what I can’t do. I realize that many people wake up each day with much greater challenges than mine. And so I feel grateful…grateful for my TV ears and closed captioning, grateful for my vibrating alarm clock and my amplified telephone, grateful for my understanding family and friends and co-workers, grateful for the advances that have been made with hearing devices and grateful for my future options, such as a cochlear implant. Last, but certainly not least, I am so grateful for Dr. Levy and Barbara Bell and for this center. Because when you’re going through something such as hearing loss, you want more than someone who can administer a hearing test. You want someone who understands and really cares. I finally found that here.
Our lives have been changed by everyone working at the Center and the combination of the staff’s dedication, love for what each individual does, and knowledge they impart to parents will stand out forever in my mind and heart.
My son’s progress is truly a miracle and HSCNC has been a huge part of that. They have been with us every step of the way.
The Center is an incredible place, and does so much good in the community. On top of that, the audiologists empowered me to make positive changes when it came to my hearing, and were beyond generous with their time and guidance. They also offer free classes on a diverse set of interesting topics related to hearing, and are experts in management of Tinnitus (ringing in the ears).