LIVING IN A WORLD OF SILENCE

PATTON -- For James and Sara Stevens, the world is a silent place. But it's far from quiet.

The brother and sister, who are deaf, are among the six children of Freida and Don Stevens of rural Bollinger County. The family lives near Patton in Bollinger County. The other children -- three sons and a daughter -- have normal hearing, as do the parents.

James, 18, is the second oldest of the children. Sara, 4, is the youngest. "Sara and James are profoundly deaf. The nerves did not develop in their ears," said Freida Stevens.

"They never laughed when they were little," she recalled. "They were really quiet."

She said her children's deafness has brought the family closer together. "There is just a closeness there."

A senior at Meadow Heights High School in Patton, James has done well in the classroom and plays on the basketball team.

His 14-year-old brother Joe goes to the practices and games. He uses sign language to convey the coach's remarks to James.

Freida Stevens said basketball has been good for her son. "It's given him self respect and self esteem.

"James is an honor roll student. He's kept up with the regular classroom. He's worked hard. He's probably had to work twice as hard as a normal kid," she said.

Although he receives some special instruction and has an interpreter, James has gone through regular classes at Meadow Heights, as will Sara.

He also spends a couple hours each weekday at Southeast Missouri State University. He has an English and practical living skills class, of which he is the only student, and speech therapy three days a week.

Stevens said it's important that her children learn in the same setting as children who are not hearing impaired.

"My children are going to exist in this world and it's not a deaf world, it's a hearing world."

Stevens said coping with deafness is not always easy. "There are days that are real frustrating."

Sara attends a special early childhood education program for 3- and 4-year-olds at Jefferson School in Cape Girardeau. She has been attending special classes there since last March.

Sara and an interpreter attend the classes four days a week. She also participates two days a week in Southeast Missouri Hospital's Pediatric SPOT speech therapy program.

Stevens transports her daughter to Cape Girardeau and back home, an 86-mile round trip, daily. The Meadow Heights School District pays Stevens' mileage.

In the Stevens household, signing is just a part of family life, she said. "We all have name signs," she said.

Stevens said the made-up signs reflect the characteristics of family members. For example, she noted, "I have one brother who wears glasses, so his sign is at his eyes."

Said Stevens, "A lot of things are kind of common-sense signs."

The Stevens' family signs in exact English, which means they sign every word.

Stevens said that it's been easier to deal with Sara's deafness. "With James, I had to learn as he learned."

James was born in 1976, but the deafness wasn't diagnosed for about two years, she said.

Throughout his schooling, James has had an interpreter. Sue Rhodes, James' aunt and Freida's sister, has served as his interpreter since he was in third grade.

Rhodes said she took a six-week vocational education course to learn sign language. But she said her real education came on the job.

"I've gone through school a second time," she joked.

Stevens said her sister has pushed James "and it's helped him. Good interpreters are hard to find around here."

James has learned to speak, but his speech is often difficult to understand. When his friends don't understand what he's communicating either by gesture or speech, he writes out the message.

Stevens said her son has always been an outgoing person. "Sara is just the opposite. She is really shy."

But Stevens said the early schooling has helped her daughter and the fact that the family began trying to teach Sara sign language when she was about 2 years old.

"He (James) helps a lot with Sara," said Stevens. When Sara was just old enough to walk, she went up and tapped James on the knee and tried to sign, recalled Stevens.

"She (Sara) can do quite a bit. She's got a pretty good vocabulary of signs. She has been such a joy.

"We are a strong church family and the Lord has sort of helped us," said Stevens, who works with youth at the Patton Church of God.

For Christmas, Sara and the other children "sang" a truly silent "Silent Night" using sign language.