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MassLive.com
When the Willie Ross School for the Deaf celebrated its 40th anniversary yesterday, Ross' mother, Barbara I. Ross, 82, was on hand to cut the cake.
A rubella epidemic in the mid-1960s yielded a wave of deaf babies on the East Coast, born to mothers who caught rubella while pregnant. Ross' son, William P. "Willie," was born deaf and autistic.
Ross and her late husband Gene Ross, who lived in Longmeadow at the time, helped establish the school as an alternative to residential placement for deaf toddlers.
"We knew we needed to do something, and we knew we were not going to fail," Ross said yesterday. The school opened with 32 children in the basement of the Bethesda Lutheran Church in Springfield.
The Ross family, originally from California, returned there in 1969, where they founded the Willie Ross Foundation for the Developmentally Disabled in Los Angeles in 1982. The foundation works to aid deaf and autistic men.
Ross said her son, now 42, is doing well. He did not attend the ceremony.
Students thanked Barbara Ross in words and sign language for her efforts in founding their school. "I think its wonderful, because we have a community of our own," said senior Latasha R. Lockett, 18, of Springfield, who plans to go to college and become a massage therapist.
Another senior, Adriel E. Hernandez, 18, of Holyoke, said it was "amazing" to see Barbara Ross in person. "She's done a great job helping change lives," he said. Hernandez hopes to attend Holyoke Community College or the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to study psychology.
The Willie Ross School, which offers primary and secondary education and provides audiological services, has 71 students ages 3 to 22. Thirty-six are based at the Norway Street campus in Longmeadow, but through a partnership with the East Longmeadow schools, another 35 are in partial mainstreaming programs.
The children range from those who are hard-of-hearing to the profoundly deaf, said Deputy Executive Director Gregory A. DeLisle.
The school receives tuition payments from public school districts which send students there. Executive Director Louis E. Abbate said children from about 22 cities and towns attend, coming from as far as Worcester.
While a debate continues among educators about the relative merit of using sign language versus teaching deaf children how to speak, the Willie Ross School has integrated both into its methodology, Delisle said.
Over the last 10 to 15 years, cochlear implants and improvements to hearing aid technology have helped many, according to Delisle and other faculty members. "I think the quality of what they're hearing has improved greatly," said Betsy F. Grenier, lead teacher for the Norway Street campus.
Rubella, also known as German measles, has been almost eliminated in the U.S. following widespread use of vaccines, the first of which were licensed in 1969. However, deafness can be caused by a variety of factors, including heredity, disease and injuries to the ear.
When the Willie Ross School for the Deaf celebrated its 40th anniversary yesterday, Ross' mother, Barbara I. Ross, 82, was on hand to cut the cake.
A rubella epidemic in the mid-1960s yielded a wave of deaf babies on the East Coast, born to mothers who caught rubella while pregnant. Ross' son, William P. "Willie," was born deaf and autistic.
Ross and her late husband Gene Ross, who lived in Longmeadow at the time, helped establish the school as an alternative to residential placement for deaf toddlers.
"We knew we needed to do something, and we knew we were not going to fail," Ross said yesterday. The school opened with 32 children in the basement of the Bethesda Lutheran Church in Springfield.
The Ross family, originally from California, returned there in 1969, where they founded the Willie Ross Foundation for the Developmentally Disabled in Los Angeles in 1982. The foundation works to aid deaf and autistic men.
Ross said her son, now 42, is doing well. He did not attend the ceremony.
Students thanked Barbara Ross in words and sign language for her efforts in founding their school. "I think its wonderful, because we have a community of our own," said senior Latasha R. Lockett, 18, of Springfield, who plans to go to college and become a massage therapist.
Another senior, Adriel E. Hernandez, 18, of Holyoke, said it was "amazing" to see Barbara Ross in person. "She's done a great job helping change lives," he said. Hernandez hopes to attend Holyoke Community College or the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to study psychology.
The Willie Ross School, which offers primary and secondary education and provides audiological services, has 71 students ages 3 to 22. Thirty-six are based at the Norway Street campus in Longmeadow, but through a partnership with the East Longmeadow schools, another 35 are in partial mainstreaming programs.
The children range from those who are hard-of-hearing to the profoundly deaf, said Deputy Executive Director Gregory A. DeLisle.
The school receives tuition payments from public school districts which send students there. Executive Director Louis E. Abbate said children from about 22 cities and towns attend, coming from as far as Worcester.
While a debate continues among educators about the relative merit of using sign language versus teaching deaf children how to speak, the Willie Ross School has integrated both into its methodology, Delisle said.
Over the last 10 to 15 years, cochlear implants and improvements to hearing aid technology have helped many, according to Delisle and other faculty members. "I think the quality of what they're hearing has improved greatly," said Betsy F. Grenier, lead teacher for the Norway Street campus.
Rubella, also known as German measles, has been almost eliminated in the U.S. following widespread use of vaccines, the first of which were licensed in 1969. However, deafness can be caused by a variety of factors, including heredity, disease and injuries to the ear.