Deaf children enjoy first bee
Bowling Green Daily News
Tristin Crusenberry’s father didn’t know what to expect. After all, he was attending the area’s first deaf spelling bee.
Still, Tom Crusenberry ventured Tuesday to Greenwood High School, holding a sign in the air to support 7-year-old Tristin.
Tristin was one of about 40 students from 11 school districts who participated in the Regional Deaf and Hard of Hearing Spelling Bee. Local and regional deaf teachers organized the event to give those students a way to mingle and compete academically against one another.
“Anything where they feel that they’re not different. They’re just like any other kid, they just have a different language,” said Crusenberry, of Owensboro. “It’s very encouraging for them to have the same activities, to have things in life.”
Students were split into four groups according to their grade levels - first- through eighth-graders participated. Each student was given a dry-erase board, and mediators signed and spoke each word. Students wrote the words on their boards and showed them to the judges. The last student in each group, who spelled two consecutive words correctly, was the winner.
“I think it’s important. Just as hearing children have opportunities for academic competition against their peers, they deserve to have the same opportunities,” said Heidi Givens, a deaf and hard of hearing teacher for Daviess County Schools.
Six of Givens’ students competed Tuesday. Students from across western Kentucky spilled into the auditorium, hugging and signing to one another. During the competition, they rooted for one another, holding signs and twisting their hands in the air - a signal for applause.
“There were some students who might be the only (deaf child) in their school,” Givens said. “So activities like this make them realize, ‘I’m not by myself. There are other kids out there who are just like me.’ ”
Several parents traveled to Bowling Green to watch their children. Tracy Howard of Owensboro held a green sign that spelled, “Aaron, You Rock,” for her 9-year-old son.
“I think it’s really neat. It’s the first time we’ve ever had one of these,” she said. “It’s a thing just for them. There’s not very many things out there that’s focused on deaf and hard of hearing.”
Dawn Miller of Hardin County supports events like the spelling bee, which can help deaf and hard of hearing students, including her 10-year-old son, Cameron.
Cameron struggles with sounds and, like many hard of hearing students, has low self-esteem, she said.
“It makes these kids feel like they fit in more. It kind of includes them more,” Miller said. “He gets to connect with friends. So, he’s really excited about that.”
Organizers plan to hold the event next year, said Miranda Stewart, deaf and hard of hearing teacher for Warren County Public Schools.
“It’s been amazing to see how far these kids have gotten,” she said. “The kids were all very well-spirited and had good sportsmanship.”
Tristin, a second-grader, beamed as he competed against another student for the championship in his group. He didn’t win the competition, but bounced off the stage as runner-up. Backstage, he gathered with a group of friends, laughing and excitedly signing.
He learned to spell big words with “lot and lots of practice,” Tristin said. “I’m smart.”
Tristin was not born deaf. At 13 months old, he was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis, which caused him to lose his hearing, Crusenberry said.
“Tristin is a social bug. He’s very social, and so he doesn’t let any kind of limitations hinder him from jumping in and being like any other kid,” he said. “I think that our culture today is realizing it’s a language like Spanish or French.”
