Planning for School “Letters to Classmates”

Below is a letter from a 6 year old boy to his teacher, classmates, and his classmate’s parents helping explain a little bit about himself and his “Cochlear” implants. Although our children are not candidates for the Cochlear implant, they do have the same experiences in a school and classroom setting, including with the use of an FM system.
– Thanks.
Melissa
________________________
Hi my name is Xxx Xxxxxx.

I am 6 years old and I love an adventure. I am in Miss G’s Kindergarten class. I am soooooo excited to be in school at Xxxxx Xxxxx! My favorite things to do are build with Legos, ski and beat everyone in my family at Monopoly. Oh…and by the way, I am deaf with cochlear implants. I lost my hearing at 17 months from meningitis but I am fine now. I am just like everyone else; I just have bionic ears to help me hear.

There is nothing special you need to do—and my friends in class have already learned about my ears—so you can ask me about them anytime, but I’m really just like every other kid.

If you come into the class a few things you may want to know to help me out are:

Don’t talk louder for me
Don’t exaggerate – just speak clearly
It is best if you say my name first when talking to me – So I know you are addressing me and I have time to locate who is taking
Try and look at me when talking- (Don’t tell Mom & Dad – but sometime I do like to read lips)
In the classroom or at specials time, you will see the teachers wearing a microphone around their neck. That is my FM system and all that does is cut the distance between the teacher and me. It makes it easier for me to hear and makes the teacher louder for only me.
If you are reading a book out loud or teaching us about something is class, I may ask you to wear the FM. Don’t worry just forget you have it on Miss G and I will take care of the rest.
If there is a ton of background noise, I may miss things, but I usually go with the flow and figure it out—but if it’s important, please check in to make sure I’m getting it.
Please let me sit in the front of the room or near whoever is talking
Lastly, it helps a ton when you repeat questions that people ask—especially if a student has a little voice. This is kind of helpful for everyone, really.

Other than that I am good to go. Please talk to my classmates—and ask them if you have questions…or if you have any hard questions, please just ask my mom, Xxxx.
Also, I love play dates—so I will see you all soon!

Xxxxx Xxxxxx