I have been working at OSD as an audiologist since 1999. OSD had contacted me about some open positions at the time and asked if I would come in for an informal talk. I met with Dr. Corbett and Tamara Burnett and had a lovely chat, learning about OSD, what was offered to the students here, the school’s philosophy and my philosophy as an audiologist regarding residential Deaf schools. Apparently, we had a meeting of the minds, as I was offered the job of audiologist within a few days.

In the years I have been at OSD, I have been a part of the Multifactored Evaluation Team and had the pleasure of connecting with families whose children are deaf/hard of hearing, from all over the state of Ohio. It has always been a joy to work with the children and to connect with the families and district personnel, to introduce them to the world of deafness and help them understand and explore their child’s/student’s deafness as a gift. I have worked as a “listening therapist”, helping students with amplification make sense of the world of sound. I established the state wide FM loaner program and managed that for many years. I am responsible for keeping all the hearing technology that our students now use “up and running”, coordinating hearing health care with families and hospitals/clinics, and monitoring the hearing of our students, at least every three years for their ETR and more frequently for those who have progressive hearing losses. I also supervise audiology interns from various Ohio universities as they work toward their doctoral degrees,helping them with not only their clinical skills but building their understanding of Deaf Culture.

When I first entered the world of deafness, I went through a teacher of the deaf training program at a small university in southern Illinois, MacMurray College. While in college, I had the opportunity to live and work at the Illinois School for the Deaf, did my student teaching at ISD,and developed a love for deaf culture and sign. I taught for three and a half years in the western suburbs of Chicago. Feeling a calling to pursue more education, I entered an audiology program at Vanderbilt University in 1985.After receiving my masters in audiology, I worked as an educational audiologist for a regional educational program in Illinois for a few years. I then had an opportunity to broaden my clinical skills, and worked as a clinical audiologist at an osteopathic hospital in the Chicago area for five years. When my children were young, I worked part time as a substitute teacher and an educational interpreter in Michigan and Ohio for a couple of years. Since joining OSD, I’ve returned to school yet again to pursue a doctorate in audiology through A.T. Still University, which I completed in 2006.

With my training in deaf education and audiology,educational audiology was a natural fit for me. The case management and connection of students, families and outside agencies is the part of my job I enjoy the most. I enjoy the direct communication with the students, helping them with their amplification and communication needs, helping families understand their child’s abilities and needs, and linking families and students with outside service providers and resources, when requested, to pursue hearing technology.

One of my favorite quotes, which applies to all aspects of life, is, “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insolvable problems”. (Charles Swindoll)