Children's Stories

Holly's Story

 

Holly, aged 3, attends one of our five centres. Watch this video to find out more about her family's journey.

 

Bernado's story

Leonardo and Bernado aged two

"Bernado was diagnosed with hearing loss as a newborn just one day after he was born. His diagnosis had a huge impact on my wife Carolina and I. We felt completely lost and didn't know what would happen to our son. We had never considered the possibility of our child being born deaf or hearing-impaired, and had no idea what to do. I felt helpless and unable to have an influence on my own son's life.

We were both still very shocked by Bernado's diagnosis when we first visited The Shepherd Centre, but we were immediately put at ease by the Centre Manager who explained the services they could offer. We were amazed by the technology that was available and that, with The Shepherd Centre's help, we would be able to teach him how to listen and speak. We felt full of hope for the first time.

The Shepherd Centre has supported us through every step of our journey, from learning to cope with Bernado's diagnosis, to his first and then second cochlear implant surgery and switch on. Seeing Bernado hear his first sound was amazing. We are now starting to hear him make his first sounds, which fills us with hope for his future. Carolina and I use the techniques we are taught at The Shepherd Centre each week to teach Bernado to listen and speak when at home. We start every day like this using pictures and toys to help us.

It's always great to visit The Shepherd Centre and meet other families who are going through the program. It's wonderful to see older children on the program speaking and listening, and to learn about the fantastic things that children who leave The Shepherd Centre go on to achieve.

Bernado is now two years old and is making great progress. In three or four year's time it's very likely that he will be able to go to a mainstream school with other children his age. Our family is so happy with the amazing support we've received at The Shepherd Centre every step of the way, and we are filled with hope for Bernado's future."