Miss-Delectable
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Deaf student masters the art of speech - Top Local Stories - News : KHAS-TV
When it comes to competitive speech one kid is at the top of his game. A conference champion, a third place district winner, and Friday, he will be competing for a state speech championship. He is also almost completely deaf.
When speech champion Aaron MacArthur steps out on stage he knows exactly what it takes to entertain a crowd.
"You need a sense of humor. You must not worry about what other people think and energy," said Aaron.
But it has been a long journey for Aaron to get to where he is now.
"When he was born he had a cleft pallet and he was not able to speak very well, so he had a lot of surgeries and had to go to speech—a different kind of speech class," said Aaron's mom Trisha MacArthur.
He also needs a hearing aid in both ears and is almost legally deaf.
But, to overcome his challenges, Aaron said he practices at school and at home repeating and revising his speech over and over.
He also uses a rhythmic kind of training. Aaron says to help with his breathing and articulation he has been playing the clarinet for six years and just recently he started playing the oboe as well.
While he would like to get first at state, for Aaron, it is all about entertaining.
"I just like performing and making others laugh," said Aaron.
"He gets the audiences with him and then he uses and feeds off the audience. Like all great entertainers or comedians or anybody like that...they feed off the audience and that makes them even funnier and better than they normally are," said Teacher/Speech Coach Jeremy Heneger.
Aaron's ambition goes beyond the championship this Friday.
He said he would like to be an entertainer for children and youth.
And is ready for the hard work it will take to make his dream happen.
The Nebraska State Speech Championship starts Thursday morning in Kearney.
It will continue through Friday the 19th with awards presented each evening to respective champions.
When it comes to competitive speech one kid is at the top of his game. A conference champion, a third place district winner, and Friday, he will be competing for a state speech championship. He is also almost completely deaf.
When speech champion Aaron MacArthur steps out on stage he knows exactly what it takes to entertain a crowd.
"You need a sense of humor. You must not worry about what other people think and energy," said Aaron.
But it has been a long journey for Aaron to get to where he is now.
"When he was born he had a cleft pallet and he was not able to speak very well, so he had a lot of surgeries and had to go to speech—a different kind of speech class," said Aaron's mom Trisha MacArthur.
He also needs a hearing aid in both ears and is almost legally deaf.
But, to overcome his challenges, Aaron said he practices at school and at home repeating and revising his speech over and over.
He also uses a rhythmic kind of training. Aaron says to help with his breathing and articulation he has been playing the clarinet for six years and just recently he started playing the oboe as well.
While he would like to get first at state, for Aaron, it is all about entertaining.
"I just like performing and making others laugh," said Aaron.
"He gets the audiences with him and then he uses and feeds off the audience. Like all great entertainers or comedians or anybody like that...they feed off the audience and that makes them even funnier and better than they normally are," said Teacher/Speech Coach Jeremy Heneger.
Aaron's ambition goes beyond the championship this Friday.
He said he would like to be an entertainer for children and youth.
And is ready for the hard work it will take to make his dream happen.
The Nebraska State Speech Championship starts Thursday morning in Kearney.
It will continue through Friday the 19th with awards presented each evening to respective champions.