YOUTH DANCES TO JOYFUL SOUND AFTER IMPLANT RESTORES HEARING

Richmond Times-Dispatch - Richmond, Va.
Author: Bill Lohmann
Date: Jul 30, 2002
Section: Flair, Page 1

Wade Green always loved to dance.

As a young child, he would stand in front of the television and imitate the movements of others. When he was 8, his mother enrolled him in a dance class in Richmond's parks and recreation program and he was, his instructors said, a natural.

"I want to be a famous dancer," Wade says.

Now that he can hear, he can really dance.

Wade, 10, was born hearing, but an illness when he was a toddler left him deaf. Last summer, he underwent a cochlear implant, which returned him to the hearing world. Now, he's a member of the City Dance Troupe, having been selected to be a member of that widely respected group, which is sponsored by the city's department of parks, recreation and community facilities. This month, he played a part in the two-dozen-member troupe's strong showing in the finals of DanceAmerica, a national competition, in Orlando, Fla.

"Wade was so excited," said Annette Holt, the troupe's ballet director, of the trip to Florida. "Every time I saw him, he was dancing."

Added Holt with a laugh, "Even when he was waiting in the snack- bar line he was dancing."

Wade will dance with the troupe when it performs at 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Empire Theatre as part of the second annual Black Theatre Festival. Wade's story is inspiring, not so much because of the kind of dancer he is, but because of the kind of kid he is.

His family doesn't know how long his hearing had been gone when they discovered he could no longer hear. Somehow, he'd taught himself to lip-read and get along before his mother, Danita Green, noticed one day that Wade didn't react when the doorbell rang and a baby cried. He was 3 1/2 when doctors diagnosed him as profoundly deaf. He was completely deaf in his right ear and mostly so in his left. A hearing aid helped a little, but not much.

Despite that, he took immediately to dance when he enrolled in the city dance program's class two years ago.

"If he could see your mouth, he was able to follow directions and he was very quick to follow other kids, but he was always a beat behind," said Holt, who took immediately to Wade.

"He would never give up or get discouraged. He has a lovable disposition." He comes by it naturally. His mom says Wade has always been "the happiest child I've ever seen." He wakes up smiling every morning and says - because he learned to talk before going deaf he has always been able to speak - "Good morning, Mommy!"

He's always been more interested in what he can do, rather than what he can't. He is, as his mother said, a deaf child who doesn't know he has a disability.

With cochlear implants, the recipients process sounds differently from those with normal hearing, and it takes time to become used to it. Danita Green knew this before deciding to have Wade undergo the surgery. She didn't realize the implications until she called his name after the implant and he didn't recognize it.

She was devastated and thought she had made the mistake of her life. Then one evening, Wade came running into her bedroom. He was alarmed by a new sound and wanted to know what it was. She and Wade's brothers - Ricky, 14, and Brian, 8, - went all over the house, trying to determine what he had heard. Suddenly, it dawned on them what he was talking about: the patter of rain on the roof.

He had never heard it before, or didn't recall it. His mom knew then the implant was the right thing to do. It also wasn't long before he recognized his name. The great strides he has made in the last year in his schoolwork - he's a fifth-grader at Henrico County's Crestview Elementary, having moved from a hearing- impaired class to a mainstream class - confirms it for Green, a former schoolteacher who now works as a corporate event designer.

Being able to hear music helped his dancing considerably. He always exhibited the aura of an entertainer. "He has a quality about him that makes you want to look at him," Holt said, and auditioning for the dance troupe was the next step before being invited to join. Wade's successful underdog story fits right in with the troupe, a city- sponsored program on a shoestring budget that competes against, and often bests, well-financed private dance teams and schools.

Wade doesn't know about all of that. What he knows is that dancing is what he loves to do. He knows he enjoys watching Alvin Ailey, the famous dancer he wants to grow up to be like. And he knows the music sounds mighty good. "I feel great," he said.

IMPLANTS

A cochlear implant is a prosthetic replacement, bypassing damaged parts of the inner ear, or cochlea, and electronically stimulating the nerve of hearing, according to information available on the Web site of The Voice Center of Eastern Virginia Medical Center in Norfolk (www.voice-center.com).

Part of the device is surgically implanted in the skull behind the ear and tiny wires are inserted into the inner ear. The other part of the device is external and has a microphone, or speech processor that converts the sound into electrical impulses.

CITY DANCE TROUPE PERFORMANCE

TOMORROW - 8 p.m., Empire Theatre, 114 W. Broad Street. Tickets $10. Details: (804) 648-3530. Black Theatre Festival, July 30-Aug. 11, sponsored by Ernie McClintock's Jazz Actors Theatre.