Miss-Delectable
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Community Press - Ohio Valley Voices echo in Miami Twp.
If you'd like to find a place where employees work because they love what they do and are eager to walk through the doors each morning, you need to visit Ohio Valley Voices on Branch Hill-Guinea Pike.
The group of 5- and 6-year-olds from Ohio Valley Voices recited the Pledge of Allegiance in unison for local Mix 94.1 radio station Thursday, Oct. 26. What makes this group so unique? So precious? Each child is deaf.
"Our goal is that they succeed not only here, but for life," executive director Maria Sentelik said.
t's obvious as you walk through the acoustically-designed classrooms that these children will be successful; the teacher/student ratio is _; the curriculum is challenging, yet balanced; graduates from the program are expected to return to their area public schools with normal speech and language; the administrators, teachers, and peripheral staff are committed to these children in the areas of care, concern, and competence.
With 41 children enrolled in the program this year, it became obvious to Sentelik that some parents needed a place to park for three hours and rest from their half-hour drive to bring their child to school.
"In order to help a child, you have to help a family," Sentelik said.
Sentelik pointed out that these families are making many sacrifices to bring their children to school, so a place of rest is top priority. Visiting parents are quilting, reading and volunteering their time cutting and copying.
One priority of Ohio Valley Voices is to provide a quiet learning environment.
"The children cannot hear something new when they can't hear. We are trying to take away the noise barrier," Sentelik said.
So with five layers of drywall, acoustical ceiling tile, insulated piping, a nine-inch cement slab overhead on which the air conditioning unit rests, Sentelik claims to have the quietest building in Cincinnati.
"We're here to make sure our kids can be everything and anything they want to be. This makes the hard work well worth it," said Jacqueline Jones, development director.
Ohio Valley Voices is doing things that 10 years ago even the experts never thought possible. Children are talking. Deaf speech used to be hard to understand; the hearing the children had was so minimal, they couldn't monitor their own speech nor hear the speech of others. Now they have more access from the start with cochlear implants.
Children who engage in an intensive program along with early cochlea implantation at the age of one to two years experience the optimal success in speech development.
If you'd like to find a place where employees work because they love what they do and are eager to walk through the doors each morning, you need to visit Ohio Valley Voices on Branch Hill-Guinea Pike.
The group of 5- and 6-year-olds from Ohio Valley Voices recited the Pledge of Allegiance in unison for local Mix 94.1 radio station Thursday, Oct. 26. What makes this group so unique? So precious? Each child is deaf.
"Our goal is that they succeed not only here, but for life," executive director Maria Sentelik said.
t's obvious as you walk through the acoustically-designed classrooms that these children will be successful; the teacher/student ratio is _; the curriculum is challenging, yet balanced; graduates from the program are expected to return to their area public schools with normal speech and language; the administrators, teachers, and peripheral staff are committed to these children in the areas of care, concern, and competence.
With 41 children enrolled in the program this year, it became obvious to Sentelik that some parents needed a place to park for three hours and rest from their half-hour drive to bring their child to school.
"In order to help a child, you have to help a family," Sentelik said.
Sentelik pointed out that these families are making many sacrifices to bring their children to school, so a place of rest is top priority. Visiting parents are quilting, reading and volunteering their time cutting and copying.
One priority of Ohio Valley Voices is to provide a quiet learning environment.
"The children cannot hear something new when they can't hear. We are trying to take away the noise barrier," Sentelik said.
So with five layers of drywall, acoustical ceiling tile, insulated piping, a nine-inch cement slab overhead on which the air conditioning unit rests, Sentelik claims to have the quietest building in Cincinnati.
"We're here to make sure our kids can be everything and anything they want to be. This makes the hard work well worth it," said Jacqueline Jones, development director.
Ohio Valley Voices is doing things that 10 years ago even the experts never thought possible. Children are talking. Deaf speech used to be hard to understand; the hearing the children had was so minimal, they couldn't monitor their own speech nor hear the speech of others. Now they have more access from the start with cochlear implants.
Children who engage in an intensive program along with early cochlea implantation at the age of one to two years experience the optimal success in speech development.