The Charity -- for deaf and/or blind babies

and their families

SKI-HI Institute

My dissertation was a study on how early intervention has an impact on the language acquisition of deaf children.  You see, this is of high interest to me as deaf people comprise the "third largest 'nation' in the world" (Dr. Bernie Hale, President of Deaf Missions International in Clearwater, FL).   However, up to 96% of their families aren't able to communicate with these children.  SKI-HI is a wonderful solution to this!

Without early intervention, deaf children traditionally achieve just a 3rd grade reading level by age 20 (Betti Bonni, doctoral research) and 72% remain unemployed (Jerry Connor's study for Deaf Service Center Network in Florida).  Of all babies born deaf, 92% are born into all-hearing families.  These families have had no experience with deafness/hearing loss and are in vital need of information and support.

Severe visual impairment in infants can result in developmental delays and acquisition of secondary disabilities, especially in the absence of early intervention.  For those infants with some usable vision, the best period of time for correcting and learning to use that vision is within the first five years when the visual processing areas of the brain are still developing.  This is particularly important because the leading cause of vision problems in infants in the US and Europe is brain damage related vision loss largely due to premature births.

The impact of combined vision and hearing loss on a young child and their family is profound and the need for support during the early years is great.  The combined effects of both losses are far greater than either loss by itself.

Here is the link to SKI-HI's website:  SKI-HI

100% of our mileage pledges (tax deductible) will go to SKI*HI and their state affiliates.  We will give presentations and TV interviews for parents of deaf children at some locations. 

Thanks to your involvement, I can see deaf babies receive intervention in language, communication, audiology and amplification so they may grow up to be happy, confident tax paying citizens rather than being on social security disability insurance, being strangers in their own homes, being left out of society as Helen Keller so well predicted.

As for communication and language and amplification and audiology, SKI-HI has parent infant teams to help parents to choose methods best for the family and deaf child which can include but not limited to speech, lip-reading, Signed English, American Sign Language, the use of hearing aids or cochlear implants.

As for cochlear implants, please carefully consider that negative results and data often are from the early and middle 1990s.  Today, technologyof cochlear implants has advanced similar to a new lap top running at 3+ gigahertz with 100 gig memory as compared with the early lap tops running at 40 or so megahertz with a memory of 20 MB. 

I went in for cochlear implant surgery this August 19, 2005 as I want to "walk the walk and talk the talk" as I have been through all phases ... born profoundly deaf, taking 3 years of speech therapy to say just one word correctly, going through my early life not using sign language, then learning sign language at age of 20, then being a militant anti-cochlear implant Deaf person until just two years ago when I did research on Cochlear Corporation, Med-El and Advanced Bionics' track record and how sentence recognition is now up to 90% (a Cochlear Corporation study in 1994 showed 0 to 8% response by pre-lingually deafned people).

For a person with a 115+ dB hearing loss all his life, imagine my thrill and joy in hearing my wife's beautiful laugh, the purr of a cat, and the amazing sound of hair being brushed!

Below copied and pasted from website minus photos which won't load ... to see whole thing, use this link

Alaska Bike Run

Join Us

On June 30, 2006, a group of motorcyclists led by Dr. Mike Tuccelli from the University of Florida will begin an 11,000 mile, 21 day trip, from St. Augustine, Florida, to Fairbanks, Alaska, and back. The beneficiary of this fundraising event is the SKI-HI Institute.

Dr. Tuccelli (ride organizer) is a strong supporter of early intervention and the work done by the SKI-HI Institute. He also teaches American Sign Language classes at the University of Florida. He is experienced in organizing motorcycle runs to Alaska for charities in Florida over the last several years and is an avid motorcyclist. Dr. Tuccelli's Web site (www.alaskabikerun.com) has information about the run, a detailed itinerary, and how bikers can register for the Alaska Bike Run.

Read How the SKI-HI Institute Benefits Babies and Young Children Who are Deaf, Blind, or Deafblind.

Route

The riders in the main run will begin in St. Augustine, Florida, and travel to Knoxville, Tennessee; then up through North Dakota and Canada, and on to Fairbanks, Alaska.

Once there, they will have about five days to explore Alaska. On July 12, they will head back south through Canada, into Montana, and arrive in Logan, Utah, for a celebration with SKI-HI staff and families. From Utah, the group will head south through New Mexico, Texas, the southern states, and arrive back in St. Augustine for a final celebration on July 21.

Riders can join the group in St. Augustine, Florida, for the entire trip or for any portions thereof. For example, there may be ten riders who start out together in St. Augustine; five may go just as far as Knoxville, Tennessee, and return home; five more might join up with Dr. Tuccelli and the group in Knoxville and go as far as Canada, then head back home. A few riders might join the main group in Alaska and travel down through Canada on the return leg, then head back to Alaska, and so on.

Mini-Run

In a few locations, there will be a mini-run, an event familiar to avid motorcyclists. These will be organized by the following groups in the following locations along the main run.
In Knoxville, TN: TIPS (Tennessee Parent Infant Services) at the Tennessee School for the Deaf; contact is Teresa McMahan. In Logan, UT: SKI-HI Institute; contact is Bess Dennison, Co-Director and Fran Payne; 435/797-5600.

The mini-run is a fundraiser for the local program as well as the SKI-HI Institute. In a local mini-run, a 50-100 mile route is planned with various places of interest designated as check-points. Riders must register to participate in the local run. Riders begin and end the run at the same location. At the end of the run, there is a celebratory event with food, a raffle for prizes, games, and or entertainment (most of which is donated by local businesses or groups). For example, in Logan, we are planning food and entertainment at a local park with cowboy music and poetry. We are working with local businesses to get food, prizes, and entertainment donations.

The riders on the main run to and from Alaska may join up with the riders of the mini-run for the celebration, and in some cases may even participate in the local mini-run. Local families of young children who are sensory impaired will be invited to the celebration so the riders can meet them. In some areas, a small celebration is being organized for the group of Alaska riders as they pass through that area. For example, Diane Fisher will be organizing a small celebration with food, families, and some prizes in the Dallas/Forth Worth area on July 19 when the riders stop there that afternoon and spend the night.

If there are additional programs along the main route of the Alaska Run that would like to organize a mini-run or even just a small celebratory picnic for the Alaska riders when they come through, please contact Bess Dennison at SKI-HI. (ecdennison@cc.usu.edu or 435/797-5593).

So, get your bikes ready; pull out your leather jackets, and get ready to take the ride of your life this summer! Help the SKI-HI Institute with its work that benefits young children with sensory impairments and the programs that serve them across the country.

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Pictures of 2005 Alaska Bike Run