| Everyone experiences adversity regardless of | | | | add or subtract?" |
| who they are because no one is immune from | | | | |
| it. It's how you deal with it that determines | | | | Hesitantly, I replied, "Add?" |
| the final outcome. | | | | |
| | | | "NO, STEPHEN YOU HAVE TO SUBTRACT, SUBTRACT, |
| This is a story of a deaf boy who struggled | | | | SUBTRACT!" His eyes were bulging, ready to |
| in elementary school who's life was | | | | pop out, while slamming his fist on my tiny |
| eventually changed by a caring teacher in | | | | desk, almost knocking over the little green |
| fifth grade. This is actually the first | | | | lamp. I shivered in fear. I wanted to dash |
| series of four articles about my experiences | | | | beneath my bed and stay there forever. |
| in elementary school. Yes, that deaf boy was | | | | |
| me. | | | | Going to school wasn't much better either. |
| | | | Kids taunted me and called me names mainly |
| From the very beginning, it was a struggle | | | | because of my hearing aid and the way I |
| academically. Since it never occurred to | | | | talked. I remembered thinking, "What have I |
| anybody at the elementary school to retain | | | | done wrong?" |
| the services of an interpreter, I had to sit | | | | |
| in the front row so that I could read the | | | | Not only did I have trouble fitting in, but I |
| teacher's lips. Classroom discussions were | | | | also had difficulty reading the clock, |
| virtually impossible to follow because I | | | | counting money and reading. Although I was |
| couldn't hear what was being said around the | | | | gregarious and acted as a happy-go-lucky kid, |
| room. In a vain effort to keep up with the | | | | I actually thought of myself as an ugly |
| flow of conversation swirling around me, I | | | | bucktooth kid with wires that ran from the |
| was always asking whoever happened to be | | | | hearing aid box to my ears. Other parents |
| sitting next to me what was being said. | | | | didn't want me to hang around their kids |
| Eventually, I got tired of watching everyone | | | | fearing that my deafness would rub off on |
| shrug their shoulders indifferently and | | | | them. How absurd was that!?!? Want to see a |
| rolling their eyes. I began to pretend that I | | | | picture of me when I was a kid? Go here: |
| knew what was going on. Fitting in was so | | | | |
| important to me that every time the kids | | | | Because of my academic struggles, I was fast |
| laughed, I laughed along even though I was | | | | on my way to being held back in fourth grade. |
| clueless most of the time. | | | | Teachers didn't know what to do with me. |
| | | | |
| I spent every spare moment trying to keep up | | | | But then fate intervened. |
| with my peers. While most of them finished | | | | |
| their homework well before dinner, I was | | | | I was allowed to pass, making the way for my |
| often holed up in my room right up until | | | | fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Jordan, to make a |
| dinnertime, only to go back and work well | | | | grand entrance into my life. |
| into the night. | | | | |
| | | | She uttered a simple three-word phrase that |
| One evening, I was working on a math word | | | | was delivered at the right time in just the |
| problem. For the life of me, I couldn't solve | | | | right way, forever changing my life. |
| it so I asked my father to help me out. We | | | | |
| had been going over it for more than a | | | | You can see the rest of the story by going to |
| half-hour and making no progress at all. The | | | | "The Power of Three Words - THAT'S RIGHT |
| smell of pizza drifted in from the kitchen. | | | | STEPHEN!". This story is followed by another |
| It was almost suppertime. | | | | called "The Courage to Stand Up to Bullies". |
| | | | Finally, the last article is entitled |
| My father decided to try one last time. | | | | "Remembering 5th Grade Teacher on a National |
| | | | Talk Show." |
| "Stephen, read through the word problem | | | | |
| again," he said. | | | | ENJOY! (Be prepared to grab a cup of coffee, |
| | | | glass of wine or whatever it is you like to |
| After I read it aloud, he added, "Now, do you | | | | drink and enjoy the stories). |