N4L 100: "Ephphatha" by Dr. by Thomas M. Caulfield

 Dr. Thomas Caulfield, academician and father, shares his memoir,  “Ephphatha: Growing Up Profoundly Deaf and Not Dumb in the Hearing World: A Basketball Player’s Transformational Journey to the Ivy League.” A compilation of personal journal entries Dr. Caulfield painstakingly wrote over a twenty-year period, Ephphatha documents the legendary journey of his Deaf son Christopher and his family's valiant attempts at helping Christopher be the best he could be. We learn that only 1/10 of one percent of the world knows sign language. So, early on, the Caulfields intentionally chose oral language training for Christopher, believing that path would better equip him to handle written academic and professional materials in the future. KEY POINTS “Ephphatha” – to be open, to open up After receiving a cochlear implant at 16-months-old, Christopher began 1500 hours of therapy before age nine. Alexander Graham Bell Association – a national support network for families of Deaf children Not all sports are suitable for kids with cochlear implants; however, Deaf kids often develop and leverage acute sensitivity with other senses. Rochester Institute of Technology – Christopher’s alma mater where ten percent of 13K students are profoundly Deaf At Cornell, Christopher’s team won $100K for developing glasses with real-time voice-recognition captioning that have an almost unbelievable 99.8% accuracy! QUOTES FROM CAULFIELD “Everyone has the right to be understood.” “It has been well documented that deaf kids can suffer serious bouts of loneliness and alienation.” “To be on the basketball floor was somewhat of a sanctuary for [Christopher].” "Some of the world’s best scholars believe that the true measure of our society is determined by how we treat the needy and disenfranchised.” BUY Ephphatha: Growing Up Profoundly Deaf and Not Dumb in the Hearing World: A Basketball Player’s Transformational Journey to the Ivy League RECOMMENDATION Listen to Christopher Caulfield's graduation speech at Cornell Tech. Connect with us! Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube Website Special thanks… Music Credit Sound Editing Credit