“It has been our lifeline “

photo Sophie Side
Born deaf, Jeremiah Bouchard, Shannon, attended the School oral of Quebec for nearly 10 years.

Sophie Side

Monday, January 8, 2018 00:00

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Monday, January 8, 2018 00:00

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Born deaf and operated for three years to have an implant cochlear, Jeremiah Bouchard is adamant : it would not be the young man he is today without the School oral of Quebec. Today at the dawn of his 18-year old, who had a significant language delay at five years old has no difficulty in sustaining a conversation and plans to do graduate studies.

“When one has known the School the oral, it has been a big issue, it was like our lifeline “, remembers, very emotional, the mother of the teenager, Melissa Drolet.

Due to a variety of factors, it is only when his only son has been three years that Ms. Drolet has learned that he was deaf. Jeremiah, who has a cochlear implant since the age, intends to about 70 % of his left ear. Her right ear, she does that little sounds.

He learned the French signed (sign language where each word is mimicked) when her parents learned of the existence of the School the oral. He was five years old, and its integration with the native fit, of which he was registered, was not happening well at all due to a significant language delay.

“We was freaking out ! “

The first visit to the school was a revelation. “We was freaking out ! It was structured and adapted to them, ” recalls Ms. Drolet. The latter admits “being scared” since it was a school ” just oral “. But quickly, extremely positive results have followed.

“The first year, it was really fast. At the language level, we included all of his sentences, they were more structured, this was not just words. “

Individualized education Plans, individual meetings for specific issues to Jeremiah – ” the syntax ! “… Everything was in place to ensure its success.

A ” family “

“It is like a family. You feel confident, you know that your child will be able to do something after, ” says dr. Drolet.

Jeremiah has made the leap into the regular network at the age of 14, at the College of the Companions. He admits he was afraid at the beginning. His experience as a deaf person in a team of soccer – he went up to the camp selections AAA at the provincial level – has also greatly assisted in the success of integration, raises the young man, full of confidence.

Great aspirations

“The school is oral, it is for the language, but they are also there to help you in your life, mentions Jeremiah. They give you full of tools to be like a normal person, autonomous and find ways to hear better. “

Currently in his fifth high school, the teenager, whose circle of friends is composed of young people who are not deaf, wish to enroll in the college before continuing his studies at the university. He aspires to become a mechanical engineer.

“I’m proud of it, but you know, he must be working hard ! For Jeremiah, there was never any problems ! He has always had a thirst of intense life, ” concludes her mother.

SCHOOL ORAL OF QUEBEC

• The only French-language school dedicated exclusively to oralism in North America
• For students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing 4 to 16 years
• Success rate of 89 % (obtaining, by the following, at a minimum, one or a DEP)
• A team composed of a dozen teachers
• 20 % of young people from outside the region
• A ratio of one teacher for 4 to 6 students on average
• Founded by GRIES (research Group for intervention with the deaf child) of the University Laval

“Most of our children are success stories”

For the past 15 years, the School oral of Quebec is changing lives by allowing dozens of children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, empowering the learner, in particular, to express themselves orally. The goal : to enable them to successfully integrate the network regular school and then get a diploma.

“Listen to the nice voices,” notes Andrée Boisclair, president and founder of the school, while 42 students who are deaf or hard of hearing of the establishment, which has a storefront for five years at the corner of boulevard René-Lévesque and avenue Joffre, out of the classroom to go to dinner.

“Here, it is a school upgrade,” says Ms. Boisclair, professor emeritus at the Université Laval. Often, it happens to us children who do not speak at all in four years. Then, there is work to do on the development of the language and the knowledge about the world “, outlines how the school project was developed through a research project, there are a total of thirty years.

“Our passion, our madness ! “

“The idea is to develop beings bright. It is our passion, our madness ! says the one who dedicates his life to these young people, who are often under-educated. We believe in all children. “

By a pedagogical approach that has developed Ms. Boisclair, totally focused on the needs of these young people, the school aims to have a ‘successful’ integration in the school system.

The children, who are obviously all devices or hearing implants, must be good ” compreneurs, readers, writers “, and have a good language.

Some return quickly to school and so-called ” regular “. For others, several years are needed.

“The child will remain with problems of the deaf, but when he goes back to the integration, it will be able to follow conversations and a regular class in oral. “

Success rate of 89 %

The results are conclusive : 9 out of 10 pupils who have attended school drop out at least a diploma of secondary studies (DES) or a diploma of vocational studies (DVS).

“Most of our children are success stories, is looking forward with great humility Ms. Boisclair. Our history shows that we have several children who arrived here with a diagnosis serious enough, and who, finally, are in the process of enrolling outside and enter cegep “, she says.

“For society as a whole, it is an incredible gain. This is someone who is going to make a real choice of career as we. “