An Earful of Help : Hearing-Impaired Youngsters From Around the Globe Drawn to Special Summer Camp

For six weeks every summer, families from around the world descend on a Los Angeles nursery school to make new friends, sing songs and share picnic lunches.

But this is no ordinary summer camp.

It is the John Tracy Clinic, a school for hearing-impaired preschoolers and their parents, and it offers its services free of charge.

“Our mission is to provide hope, guidance and encouragement to parents of preschool-age, hearing-impaired children and to provide a sequence of programs that leads to the full development of the hearing-impaired child,” said Dr. James Garrity, the clinic’s executive director.

Named for Son

The John Tracy Clinic was founded in 1942 by Louise Treadwell Tracy, wife of the late actor Spencer Tracy. The clinic is named for the couple’s son John, now in his 60s, who is hearing impaired.

Spencer Tracy provided the initial grant to get the clinic started and then recruited other prominent Hollywood friends, such as Walt Disney, to serve on the clinic’s first Board of Directors.

The clinic’s summer session is intended primarily for families who live outside the Los Angeles area, many of whom already participate in the clinic’s correspondence course. About 60 families attend the program’s two three-week sessions each summer, and all are selected on a first-come, first-served basis, Garrity said.

Families pay for their own meals and travel expenses and are housed at dorms on the USC campus where they are charged $13 a day.

This summer, parents and children from countries as far away as India, Ireland and Greece have come together to improve their communication skills. The clinic is an educational facility, not a medical one, Garrity said, noting that many of the families have little or no education and support services in their own countries.

Stuffed Animals

The day starts at 9 a.m. sharp when about 30 families congregate in brightly colored classrooms to play with stuffed animals, finger paints and wooden blocks.

“The goal is to get the parents to interact with their children,” said Maura Martindale, the clinic’s director of education. “It looks like they are messing around, but they are actually working.”

Most of the children, who range in age from 2 to 6, have some level of hearing, which is amplified by hearing aids, Martindale explained.

In the United States, about 6% of the population has some sort of hearing impairment, Garrity said. One-tenth of 1% of all children in the United States who have not yet learned to talk are hearing impaired, he added.

During the play sessions, parents, under faculty supervision, try to teach their children how to speak. Doctors believe that hearing-impaired children are most likely to learn speech if they are taught early, Martindale said.

“It’s now or never,” she explained. “Their hearing won’t get any better and in some cases it will get worse.”

Out on the playground, parents describe the clinic in glowing terms.

Learns Words

“I love this clinic,” said Connie Tolleson of Pittsburg, Calif., who is attending the session with her husband and their 2-year-old daughter, Elizabeth. “Elizabeth had never spontaneously spoken before; now she knows seven words. That’s incredible.”

Ardie Feucht, whose 2-year-old son Alan has a moderate-to-severe hearing loss, said the clinic has given her a whole new lease on life.

“I thought if kids are deaf--that’s it,” said Feucht, who lives in Modesto. “It is wonderful to have this encouragement that our children will have a chance in the oral world.”

Even the terminology the clinic uses is uplifting.

The word “deaf” is rarely used, said Philip Strout, the clinic’s director of development.

“Since we are concentrating on getting the children to hear what they can, it seems ‘hearing impaired’ is the preferred word,” Strout explained. “It has a gentler sound to it.”

The John Tracy Clinic is more than a clinic for children.

“The thing that is most unique about our program is that we are parent oriented,” Strout said. “Our services are directed toward the parent because when children are hearing impaired, parents need special guidance to fulfill their role.”

Special Classes

Several parents said the support they receive while attending special classes and through chance meetings with other parents makes all the difference.

“When you get here, you really feel sorry for yourself,” said Celia Lopez, who is from Reynosa, Mexico. “But here they make you realize your problem and they show you how to deal with it.”

Brothers and sisters of hearing-impaired children are welcome to attend the summer sessions. The clinic has a special sibling program that combines arts and crafts with professional guidance on how to deal with the hearing-impaired, Strout explained.

The John Tracy Clinic is located in two buildings on three acres adjacent to USC. In addition to the two three-week summer sessions, the clinic runs a correspondence course that involves families worldwide and a nursery school during the academic year, Strout said.

The clinic, with an annual budget of about $2 million, is always looking for new ways to serve the hearing impaired, Garrity said. Currently, the staff is considering sprucing up its correspondence course with videotapes, he said.

Hearing Impaired

But no improvements are necessary, according to Lee Farnum-Badley, who traveled from Barbados with his wife and two children, one of whom is hearing impaired, to attend the session.

“The clinic has inspired us with so much hope,” said Farnum-Badley. “It is the closest thing to a miracle in our lives.”