1. family and parenting
2. children

bulletin
a newsletter for our friends & families • winter 2011/2012
JTC has a new logo!
John Tracy Clinic has always
embraced cutting-edge technology and teaching methods in our quest to provide the stateof-the-art services to children with hearing loss. Several months ago, we set out to create a
new brand that reflects this commitment. We are pleased to unveil our new logo, the result
of a strategic rebranding process that included stakeholder research and consultation with a
creative director (whose time was generously donated for the project). cont. page 2
A YEAR AT JTC
A snapshot of the
services provided
in fiscal year 2010-2011:
1,747
families seen in Onsite
Audiology & Counseling
21,456
children tested in Community
Hearing Screening Program
2,299
parents educated through
Parent Distance Education
144
families who participated in
Parent/Infant Program
30
families with children in JTC
Preschool & Parent Education
16
students enrolled in JTC/USD
Master’s & Credential Program
123
Two countries, two children, two summers
Anzo Patel, at almost age two, was one of the first children in the
United Kingdom to have cochlear implants in both ears. Unfortunately,
he and his parents received no follow-up training or therapy needed
to make best use of the implants. His parents, Dushyant and Florence,
were at a loss and felt adrift until a friend told them about John Tracy
Clinic. When they signed up for JTC’s International Summer Session in
July 2007, Anzo, age 2, had not yet begun to talk. Before coming to JTC,
Anzo’s parents’ primary focus was getting the implants. Now, they would
learn about giving their child speech and language.
“John Tracy Clinic was a godsend,” says Dushyant. “Not only did
the teachers, therapists and audiologists provide critical help for Anzo,
but they gave us a roadmap for his education and support that we are still
following today.” During their second week at JTC, Anzo spoke his first
professionals attended
Teacher In-service Education
words, “Bye, bye, Papa and Mama,” much to the delight of his parents
and JTC staff.
Two years later, the Patels received a new round of difficult news.
Their second child, Amaya, was also born profoundly deaf. “It was a deep
disappointment,” says Dushyant, “but our experience at JTC had prepared
us to bring Amaya smoothly into the hearing and speaking world.”
The Patels returned to JTC in the summer of 2011 for a second
time. “We saw improvements in Amaya’s speech right away and are very
pleased,” said Florence. “You could say, in our misfortune, we are fortunate,” adds Dushyant. “Thanks
to our groundwork at JTC, both children have
developed skills beyond their age level.” n
Message from the President
As we enter the holiday season, I want to take a moment to share with you my
gratitude for being given the opportunity to lead the John Tracy Clinic. This remarkable organization does so much to help those with hearing loss – from first discovery
of loss in our screening programs, to the comprehensive educational programs in our
Parent/Infant and Preschool programs, to the global reach of our distance programs.
I have done many things in my life of which I am proud, but none makes me more
proud than to be working here at JTC.
Let me share with you some of the ways we are working to strengthen JTC:
• As Jill Muhs shares in her column, JTC is working in new and
creative ways with community partners to identify children with
hearing loss and promote school readiness.
• We are thrilled to welcome Christopher Chase, Joseph F. Coyne, Jr.,
Jerry Dietrick, Nihar Shah and Paul E. Slye to our Board of Directors. Joan Payden, after 19 devoted years of service, has retired
from the board but remains a champion of our work. Michael
Barker has stepped up to fill her very big shoes as board chair.
• Our development and marketing capacity is much enhanced, with
the addition of Blythe Cotton Maling as Vice President of Development and Communications. Joining her team is Amy Schweiger
as Associate Director of Development. In the future, you can look
forward to hearing much more about JTC programs and successes
as we expand our profile in the community.
I hope you noticed the redesigned JTC logo on the cover of this newsletter. This
logo represents our commitment to move into a bright future as we build on our
esteemed heritage. One thing that will never change is our dedication to the development of language skills and literacy for deaf and hard of hearing children. This
holiday season, I am grateful for your support of our work and look forward to your
continuing generosity. Thanks to you, John Tracy Clinic will continue to provide
these services for many decades to come.
Happy holidays,
Gaston Kent
page 2
JOHN TRACY CLINIC BULLETIN
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Who: When:
What:
Founder Louise Treadwell Tracy
and Walt Disney
Circa 1951
Louise Tracy and Walt Disney, one of the first members of the board and benefactors of JTC, worked tirelessly to raise
much-needed funds to support
the Clinic.
NEW LOGO, cont. from page 1
The simple logotype conveys the strength and clarity
of JTC’s mission; the new color reflects the vibrancy of
the John Tracy Clinic community and the children and
families we serve.
The speech bubble reflects both JTC’s expertise in
the spoken language model for children with hearing
loss, as well as the notifications and alerts seen in communication technology today, including texts, emails,
and instant messaging. Technology has changed the
world of communication and broadened the work of
John Tracy Clinic by making early detection of hearing
loss possible. Technology has also given the gift of more
choices for early intervention, amplification and communication for deaf and hard of hearing children
JTC continues to be the leading diagnostic and
education center for young children with hearing loss.
Our core mission remains the same – to provide parentcentered services to young children with hearing loss,
offering families hope, guidance and encouragement. n
JTC PRESCHOOL
WELCOMES
FAMILIES FROM
AROUND THE WORLD
It’s a small world after all at John
Tracy Clinic and we are pleased to welcome
a number of international families to our
preschool program. Finding comprehensive
spoken-language services for their children
inadequate or non-existent in their own
countries, a record number of families from
overseas have moved to Los Angeles to join
the John Tracy Clinic Preschool full time.
The newest members of the JTC family are
from Germany, Mongolia, the
United Kingdom, and Puerto
Rico. Three of these families attended the
International Summer Session and all are
here for the second year! The family from
Puerto Rico attended last year’s SpanishLanguage Summer Session, and the moment
they returned home began mapping out their
strategy to return. “We fell in love with John
Tracy Clinic,” says Jae R. “There is no
place in our country like this for
our daughter’s future. We left
everything to be here.”
We salute these extraordinarily brave
families and welcome them to the John Tracy
Clinic family. n
JTC PROGRAM NOTES
John Tracy Clinic is proud to feature community
outreach and education as one of our core services.
To best do this, we strategically look for community
partners who expand and enhance our services. We
are pleased to tell you about three programs that we
launched in the past year.
BEST START
Jill Muhs, MSEd
Vice President, Programs
In May 2011, JTC received a grant from Best Start,
a program of First 5 L.A. The goal of the grant was to enhance readiness for
kindergarten by providing hearing, speech, and vision screenings – all issues
that can impact a child’s capacity to succeed in school. The grant brought
together JTC, Junior Blind of America and the HEAR Center to provide services to
preschool children in the Best Start Metro LA area.
In keeping with Best Start’s vision of empowering parents as leaders in the
community, the partners began by employing parents currently receiving services to provide parent training at the preschools. The parent-trainers set out to
promote awareness of at-risk behaviors in their children, and to prepare parents
to proactively react to any results returned from the screening. Following parent
workshops, professional screeners from JTC and Junior Blind of America provided screening services. Families of children who did not pass the screenings, or
who were suspected of hearing, vision or speech problems, were given referrals
and treatment options in order to ensure the optimum growth and development
of each child.
Over a two-month period, 182 children, 81 parents, and 11 preschools
were served by the project. JTC screeners discovered two children with hearing problems serious enough to be referred to their physicians. This program
laid the groundwork for future collaboration and partnership among the three
service providers, as well as expanded our network of healthcare professionals
for referrals.
TUNE IN TO SOUND
During the last year, the JTC Audiology Department began training Head
Start and Early Head Start staff in hearing screening. The new program, called
Tune In To Sound, will reach hundreds of children in the community and introduce many new professionals and families to JTC’s expertise.
Since October last year, 117 teachers, nurses and doctors have completed
instruction and supervised practice in the latest equipment and techniques for
cont. page 7
WINTER 2011/2012
page 3
THE GIVING CORNER: Parents & Friends Give Back to JTC
“What you get out of life, you must give back.” – Louise Tracy, Founder, John Tracy Clinic
The Event The Shawn Parr Invitational Golf Tournament
The Place El Niguel Country Club, Laguna Niguel, California
The People Hosted by the Orange County Guild of John Tracy Clinic and the ambassador of country
music Shawn Parr, hundreds of friends of JTC hit the course for a great cause
The Best Moments Raising more than $40,000 for JTC. The helicopter ball drop – winner took home
$1,000 in prize money!
The Event Cocktails with the Leopards …
Dinner Under the Stars
The Place The Living Desert, Palm
Desert, California
The People Desert Friends of John Tracy
Clinic and hundreds of friends of JTC
The Best Moments Live auction and
more than $30,000 raised for JTC in an
awe-inspiring setting
page 4
JOHN TRACY CLINIC BULLETIN
The Event The 2nd Annual Spin-to-Hear
The Place Marine Stadium, Long Beach,
California
The People Coordinated by JTC parents
Dave Larsen and Michelle Zarzana and
Bonnie Smith, hundreds of riders gathered
for a four-hour spinathon to benefit JTC
The Best Moments Raising more
than $40,000 for JTC. Noah, Dave
and Michelle’s toddler, high-fived and
encouraged riders
BOOK FAIRY VISIT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DIRECTORS EMERITUS
EXECUTIVE TEAM
Chair and Treasurer
Michael D. Barker
Managing Director
Barker Pacific Group, Inc.
William G. McGagh
McGagh Associates
Corporate Financial
Consulting
Chair
Dickinson C. Ross
Chairman Emeritus
Johnson & Higgins
Gaston Kent
President & CEO
Patricia W. Barry
President
Philip and Patricia Barry
Productions
Rhonda Meister
Consultant
David L. Buell
Chairman and CEO
Hom
Patrick Harris
CFO and Vice President,
Finance & Administration
Patricia A. Fry
R.N.
St. John’s Health Center
Blythe Cotton Maling
Vice President,
Development &
Communications
Lawrence O. Kitchen
Chairman and CEO, Retired
Lockheed Corporation
DEVELOPMENT &
COMMUNICATIONS
OFFICE
Lyle V. Krapf
Senior Vice President,
Retired
Bank of America
Blythe Cotton Maling
Vice President,
Development &
Communications
Christopher Chase
President
Vertical Financial Group
Joseph F. Coyne, Jr.
Of Counsel
Sheppard, Mullin,
Rickter & Hampton, LLP
J. Jay Rakow
President
Lincy Foundation
Nihar Shah
Principal
Mercer
Jerry Dietrick
Entrepreneur
Paul E. Slye
Managing Member,
Co-Chief Executive Officer
& Founder
Brentwood Capital Partners
Speed Fry
Owner
Fry Construction
Susie Tracy
White Oak Images, Ltd
Fine Art Photography
Kent Kresa
Chairman Emeritus
Northrop Grumman
Corporation
Robert J. Wagner
Actor
Gary U. Rollé
Principal, Managing
Director, CIO
Transamerica
Jill Muhs, M.S.Ed.
Vice President, Programs
Amy Brotslaw Schweiger
Associate Director,
Development
Jack Cooper
Associate Director,
Communications,
Bulletin Editor
Welcomed by giggles,
squeals and wide-eyed
excitement, the Best Start
Book Fairy visited the JTC
Preschool on November 29,
2011. Complete with a book
wand and reading wings, the
Book Fairy read stories to the
students and talked about
their favorite books. Much
to the preschoolers’ delight,
each student received a
set of wings to color and a
copy of The Very Hungry
Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
Karla Ness
Development Coordinator
Claire Ascalon Veroda
Web Content Manager
WINTER 2011/2012
page 5
Hearing Health Tips
for You and Your Child
The world around us is louder than ever and hearing loss can
happen gradually or suddenly. It’s important to protect your
hearing and that of your children. Here are a few simple
ways you can promote good hearing health in your family:
JTC’s MASTER’S PROGRAM
AWARDED NATIONAL
ACCREDITATION
Schedule hearing tests for you and your children.
Stay away from loud noises whenever possible. When
it can’t be avoided, wear earplugs when exposed to
extremely loud noises like a rock band. Even just 30
minutes of exposure can damage your hearing.
Don’t listen to your iPod or other devices at a loud
volume. If you spend a lot of time using earbuds, try
using hearing protection headphones instead, such as
noise-cancellation headphones, that sit over the ears.
Move away from the source. Noise may damage your
hearing if you are close to a sound source, or have to
shout to make yourself heard. You have overexposed
yourself if your ears ring, or you have difficulty hearing
for several hours after exposure to the noise.
Try not to use several noisy machines at the same time.
Curtains, drapes, and carpets can be sound-absorbing
and help dampen sounds around the home, at work or
even at school.
Avoid putting anything in your ears. Our grandmothers
were right . . . never stick anything smaller than your
elbow in your ear.
Contributed by JTC Parent/Infant Teacher,
Cat Mathes, M.S. Ed, LSLS Cert. AVT
NEW TRACY BIOGRAPHY WELL RECEIVED
Respected author and former JTC board
member James Curtis has published his latest
book, SPENCER TRACY: A BIOGRAPHY.
Spencer Tracy was the husband of JTC
founder Louise Treadwell Tracy, father of their
son John, an early benefactor of the Clinic and
a lifetime supporter of his wife’s pioneering
work.
At the Clinic’s official opening, Spencer
said, “You honor me because I am a movie
actor, a star in Hollywood terms. Well, there’s
nothing I’ve ever done that can match what
Louise has done for deaf children and their
parents.” The quotation is included in the
page 6
book, along with many pages devoted to the
Tracy family. The Tracy’s daughter and JTC
board member Susie Tracy provided access to
her father’s private papers, and was one of the
author’s prime sources.
The book, which weighs in at 1,001
pages, has been well received by the critics.
The Wall Street Journal’s Jeanine Basinger
opined, “James Curtis has given us everything
we’re ever going to know—or would want to
know—about Spencer Tracy. His book will
stand as the definitive biography for decades to
come.” We offer our sincere congratulations
to Jim Curtis. n
JOHN TRACY CLINIC BULLETIN
In November 2011, John Tracy Clinic’s Graduate Program, in
partnership with the University of San Diego, received accreditation
from the highest national authority for teacher education—the
National Council on Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).
“This is about as close to
perfect as you can get,” said the lead
reviewer in a combined accreditation review by NCATE and the
California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
JTC provides two options for teacher preparation: a one-year onsite program for full-time graduate students, and a two-year distance
learning program for working teachers. Both programs link handson experience in the classroom with extensive coursework in deaf
education, which embody NCATE’s call to link clinical practice with
theory. “Candidates are working with children and families from the
first day of the program,” says Mary McGinnis, Cand. Ph.D., Program
Director. The program prepares true teacher-leaders, who go on to
careers in deaf education throughout the country. Graduates of JTC’s
Masters program are highly sought-after, with 100% of graduates
finding positions as teachers in deaf education. n
DID YOU KNOW?
Research shows that the identification
of hearing loss by six months of age,
followed by appropriate educational
programs, is the most effective
strategy for language development
in deaf and hard of hearing infants
and toddlers regardless of the degree
of hearing loss, gender, presence of
secondary disability, socioeconomic
status, mode of communication
chosen by the family.
JTC Family Offers
Winter Challenge Grant
This holiday season, John Tracy Clinic reaches out to
you to connect.
Your donation to John Tracy Clinic this
season will be matched dollar for dollar
with a $20,000 challenge grant from a
very grateful alumni family.
The grant is offered by the parents and grandparents
of a little boy who attended our International
Summer Session.
Their only wish of the season was that more families
might receive the help and understanding they found
at John Tracy Clinic in their time of extraordinary need.
Please consider a gift today
that will double in value tomorrow.
You may use the enclosed envelope to send a check by
mail or visit www.jtc.org/donate
PROGRAM NOTES, cont. from page 3
screening the hearing of children ages birth through five. The nine hours of training include classroom and hands-on learning in Play Audiometry, Otoacoustic
Emissions, and Tympanometry. Representatives from Audiometrics and other vendors are invited to the training sessions to answer questions and provide information on technology, equipment purchase and calibration.
EARLY LEARNING HEALTH INITIATIVE
JTC and the USC School of Social Work have teamed up to enhance the health and wellness components of our Parent/Infant Program and Preschool programs. The new Early Learning Health Initiative for Families of Young Deaf Children is expected to strengthen children’s kindergarten readiness through greater
physical activity, healthier eating behaviors, and more opportunities for social/emotional development. USC interns, who are on-site 16 hours a week, are working
with JTC staff to conduct risk assessments on participating children, and to monitor and lead activities. Special workshops and support services are being provided for
parents.
The project is funded by a grant from USC Neighborhood Outreach (UNO), a program that encourages collaboration between USC and local organizations to
improve the health, education and safety of children in communities surrounding the university. n
WINTER 2011/2012
page 7
SAVE THE DATE
Orange County Guild
Shawn Parr Invitational
Golf Tournament
MAY 7, 2012
EL NIGUEL COUNTRY CLUB
LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA
For more information:
www.jtc.org/ocg
read about
our new logo
inside!
The leading diagnostic and education center
for young children with hearing loss.
Nonprofit
Organization
U.S. Postage
P aid
Los Angeles, CA Permit No. 21749
806 West Adams Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90007
(213) 748-5481 • FAX (213) 749-1651
www.jtc.org
facebook.com/johntracyclinic
twitter.com/johntracyclinic
youtube.com/johntracyclinic
JTC Green If you would like to receive the Bulletin only via e-mail or would
like to be removed from JTC’s mailing list, email [email protected] with your request.
John Tracy Clinic is a private, nonprofit education and diagnostic
center founded by Louise Treadwell Tracy in 1943. Its mission is to provide worldwide,
parent-centered services to young children with hearing loss offering hope, guidance,
and encouragement.
The Bulletin is a publication of John Tracy Clinic, which has locations in Los Angeles
and Long Beach.
www.jtc.org
“John Tracy Clinic
changed our lives
forever! It is the
most professional
and compassionate
organization we have
ever known.”
– Toni C., parent