I was at a sports bar when I saw that on TV and it didn’t have CC on so your post helped me follow. Thanks

I too will be watching Belmont Stakes tomorrow….Triple Crown is a big honor if Big Brown do win!

This article was indeed posted to be that heart-warming personal story – not only about a kid, but about the love he and his father share… something we can all be thinking about with Father’s Day coming up soon.

I’ve met and talked to Kent Desormeaux personally, and it is clear that as hard as this man works at his career… his family is still his first priority. He speaks of Jacob with pride, and wants only the best for his son. It is Kent’s fondest hope that he can win the Belmont this Saturday, and thus gain the Triple Crown title – not just for himself, but for Jacob… “so he will have something special he can remember for the rest of his life.”

Yes, Jacob has a cochlear implant. Yes, Jacob is learning to speak and lipread and use auditory input. But the Desormeaux family did learn sign language when it was discovered Jacob is deaf, and they do continue to use it. They’ve also made an effort to understand deafness, something many parents don’t do.

Like I said, they want the best for their son. And if that means a combination of any and all methods that allows Jacob to achieve his full potential, so be it.

Let’s not degrade this into just another opportunity to continue the great Cochlear Implant Debate, or to discuss the pros and cons of speech versus ASL.

Like E says… it does NOT have to be about oralism, AGB, and AVT all the friggin’ time.

I’ll be watching the Belmont tomorrow, and I’ll be rooting for Kent.

And somewhere in the crowd, there will be a nine year old boy cheering for his dad.

That’s all that matters.

Does everything have to be about oralism, AGB, AVT all the friggin’ time?

And as long as they DO NOT BAN ASL that which AGBell and CI industry and AVT clinic agencies think ASL could cause a kid to dump speech and hear over ASL. They are full of craps.