{"id":17089,"date":"2012-01-04T02:04:39","date_gmt":"2012-01-04T07:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=17089"},"modified":"2012-01-04T03:12:01","modified_gmt":"2012-01-04T08:12:01","slug":"life-comes-full-circle-for-student-teacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2012\/01\/04\/life-comes-full-circle-for-student-teacher\/","title":{"rendered":"Life comes full circle for student, teacher"},"content":{"rendered":"

Life comes full circle for student, teacher<\/strong><\/p>\n

Former student now teaching hearing-impaired.<\/p>\n

By Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje, mstoeltje@express-news.net<\/p>\n

December 29, 2011<\/p>\n

When Cindy Lauer was 2, her parents noticed she would stand inches away from
\nthe television screen while watching episodes of \u201cSesame Street.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diagnosed with severe hearing impairment from a genetic condition, Lauer was
\nfitted with hearing aids.<\/p>\n

Two years later, she found herself at Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf
\nChildren, in a preschool class taught by Blane Trautwein, a new teacher
\nembarking on his life’s mission to help hearing-impaired children.<\/p>\n

The two didn’t know it yet, but their destinies would entwine in a nifty
\ncase of things coming full circle.<\/p>\n

Today, Lauer, 25, is enrolled in the Deaf Education and Hearing Science
\nmaster’s degree program at the School of Medicine at the UT Health Science
\nCenter \u2014 a program directed by none other than her first teacher, Trautwein,
\nwho worked at Sunshine Cottage for more than 20 years, including eight years
\nas principal.<\/p>\n

Even niftier, Lauer is assisting a teacher three days a week at Sunshine
\nCottage as part of her graduate work-study requirement, helping open the
\nworld to kindergarten pupils.<\/p>\n

In the small but well-regarded two-year program at the health science center
\n\u2014 last year it received a prestigious, $800,000 federal scholarship grant
\n\u2014 Lauer currently is the only student out of 24 to actually have a hearing
\nimpairment.<\/p>\n

She admits she doesn’t recall much from her pre-kindergarten days: Her dream
\nof teaching hearing-impaired kids took root in fifth grade, when a teacher
\nunlocked the secret of figures of speech for her one day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had that moment of understanding and I wanted to pass it on to other
\nkids,\u201d she said, sitting next to Trautwein at a gargantuan conference table
\ninside Sunshine Cottage. \u201cNot a lot of hearing-impaired kids have motivation
\nor confidence. I want to show them that I did it, so they can do it. I want
\nto be an inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trautwein, who’s not hearing impaired but got interested in teaching deaf
\nchildren through a high school friend, couldn’t be prouder of his long-ago
\nstudent.<\/p>\n

\u201cCindy earned her place in the (graduate program),\u201d he said. \u201cShe had the
\ngrades and she was outstanding in her student teaching. Because of our
\nrelationship, I disavowed myself from her admissions process. She got in all
\non her own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lauer first reconnected with Trautwein while she was working on her
\nassociate’s degree in education at San Antonio College, calling him for an
\nassignment that entailed interviewing someone involved in teaching the
\nhearing impaired.<\/p>\n

They kept in contact sporadically and touched base again when he spoke to
\none of her classes at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she
\nearned a bachelor’s degree in education last spring.<\/p>\n

Enrolling in the master’s program, which has been in existence since 2002,
\ntook a bit of courage on Lauer’s part.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a little self-doubting at first, whether or not I could do a
\nspoken-word program,\u201d she said. With her hearing aids Lauer can hear
\nreasonably well and reads lips but doesn’t use sign language.<\/p>\n

The health science center curriculum involves teaching children with hearing
\nloss to listen and speak and not use signing \u2014 a concept not as
\ncontroversial as it once was, said Trautwein, thanks to advancements in
\nhearing technology, such as cochlear implants and classroom amplification
\nsystems.<\/p>\n

Lauer is engaged to marry engineering student Brian Jones, who has normal
\nhearing. They met when they attended Clark High School and played in the
\nschool band together. Her goal is to become an itinerant teacher of the
\nhearing impaired at various public schools.<\/p>\n

Or \u2014 who knows? \u2014she might end up at Sunshine Cottage, where currently three
\nof the 17 teachers on staff have hearing impairments to some degree.<\/p>\n

The future is wide open.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just love being in the classroom,\u201d Lauer said. \u201cEven just being able to
\nteach kids the alphabet, like I’m doing right now, is so rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.mysanantonio.com\/news\/local_news\/article\/Life-comes-full-circle-2430085.php<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Life comes full circle for student, teacher Former student now teaching hearing-impaired. By Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje, mstoeltje@express-news.net December 29, 2011 When Cindy Lauer was 2, her parents noticed she would stand inches away from the television screen while watching episodes…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[4621,11951,11947,87,11950,11948,1554,24,3249,11949,22,5000,191,6020,6024,88,17,11952],"class_list":["post-17089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaf-news","tag-article","tag-blane-trautwein","tag-brian-jones","tag-children","tag-cindy-lauer","tag-clark-high-school","tag-cochlear-implant","tag-deaf","tag-hearing-aids","tag-melissa-fletcher-stoeltje","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-college","tag-sign-language","tag-sunshine-cottage","tag-sunshine-cottage-school-for-deaf-children","tag-teacher","tag-texas","tag-university-of-texas-at-san-antonio"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-4rD","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12131,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2010\/10\/25\/health-science-center-offering-teacher-scholarships-to-deaf-education-program\/","url_meta":{"origin":17089,"position":0},"title":"Health Science Center offering teacher scholarships to deaf education program","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"October 25, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Health Science Center offering teacher scholarships to deaf education program San Antonio Business Journal Date: Friday, October 22, 2010 The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio won an $806,500 grant from the U.S. Department of Education\u2019s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services to fund scholarships for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11472,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2010\/08\/23\/sunshine-cottage-opens-new-building-for-hearing-impaired-kids\/","url_meta":{"origin":17089,"position":1},"title":"Sunshine Cottage opens new building for hearing-impaired kids","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"August 23, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Sunshine Cottage opens new building for hearing-impaired kids By Jennifer R. 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