John's Bio

Born with normal hearing. Diagnosed with a moderate to severe loss due to unknown reasons at the age of three years. This was very good news for me as I was able to develop much of my language and speech with a lot of my hearing intact.

Diagnosed with more hearing loss at the age of four years with the prognosis of progressive inner ear loss. Fitted with a body hearing aid using my right ear only.

Attended regular schools with no FM system or access to a teacher of the deaf. I did reasonably well, but was essentially alone during the school day. I had acquaintances, but no after school friends. My most difficult subjects were science and foreign language. My best subject was Math.

Completed my initial education with an MBA from Babson College and worked in the computer software field for many years.
Lost all my hearing at the age of 32 years. I was stone deaf for three years. I qualified for a cochlear implant when I was 35 years old. I have been a happy and experienced cochlear implant user for 20 years.

I changed careers in 1997 after earning my second masters degree in counseling psychology. I became a licensed mental health counselor in Massachusetts in September 2003.

I now work as the mainstream adjustment Counselor for the Mainstream Center at CLARKE. The focus of my work is adjustment to hearing loss for children who attend public and private schools.