Posts by mgerardo
COVID-19 Pandemic
JTC Response to COVID-19 Global Pandemic. During the ongoing uncertainty associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, JTC pivoted quickly to provide services with minimal disruption. All of JTC’s education services transitioned to remote learning within 48 hours in March 2020 and for the rest of our fiscal 2020 year ending in August 2020. As we entered…
Read MoreSummer Session Program – Brittany Letter to JTC
My son Daniel was 2 ½ years old when he was diagnosed with bilateral moderate to severe hearing loss. It came as a shock to me and my husband, but it also answered a lot of questions – why he was wasn’t a It is my great pleasure to share my personal story with the…
Read MoreCOVID-19 Update
As of June 2021 During the pandemic, JTC is continuing all its critical services for children with, or at risk of, hearing loss. All Audiology services are being provided on-site and families can call to schedule a hearing test Mondays-Fridays 8-4pm. JTC closed its in-person audiology services from March to May in 2020, to comply…
Read MoreEmily Khuong
Emily and her family participated in JTC’s International summer session program. Recently, Emily reached out to let us know of all the amazing things she has been up to since her time at JTC. The Gold Award is the highest honor a girl scout can earn and involves undertaking a service project with a long-lasting impact on the…
Read MoreSamantha Chavez
Samantha is a charming 12-year-old girl with bilateral hearing loss who loves school and playing sports. Samantha was diagnosed profoundly deaf at birth after failing her hearing screening test three times. Samantha received her first cochlear implant when she was just a year old and her second at age five. We started to attend JTC…
Read MoreConnor Silver
Born in California in1999, when hearing tests were optional for a newborn, Connor Silver’s parents were told he was in perfect health. As the months passed, though, the signs pointed to the fact that something was not right with his hearing. It was not until he was two years old he was diagnosed with a severe…
Read MoreJohn Butchko
I didn’t speak for the first year and a half of my life. In fact, I didn’t really make any sounds at all like a usual baby. The fact that I didn’t babble was one of few hints to my parents that I had a hearing loss. The most I would do was squawk, a…
Read MoreWendy Vincent
“The State Department has given me opportunities to learn new languages,” she says. “JTC made language learning possible… I transferred the skills to other languages!” After doing tutors in Tel Aviv, Paris, Budapest, Washington, Kuala Lumpur, and now Rio, Wendy is preparing to retire in Los Angeles, where she was “born and raised”. Wendy hopes…
Read MoreRenee Polanco Lucero
An alum of our Parent-Infant program, Renee Polanco Lucero, Ph.D., LSLS Cert., AVEd, has a hearing loss since birth and is bimodal, using a hearing aid in her left ear and a cochlear implant in her right ear. Renee earned her master’s degree in JTC’s graduate program and her Ph.D. in special Education, as well…
Read MoreSara Cooper
Gina Cooper was looking for answers when she made the journey from British Columbia to Los Angeles with her daughter Sara to attend JTC’s International Summer Sessions in 2014. She recalls how full of anxiety she was, and how “nerve-wracking” it felt to prepare a child with hearing loss for the school system. “The choices…
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