FIVE-YEAR-OLD Viktor Creighton cracked a big smile when asked where he would be going this week.
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“I will be going to big school,” he said proudly.
Viktor is one of 22 deaf and hearing-impaired graduates from The Shepherd Centre who will be starting primary school this year.
Viktor’s first day at Terara Public School is on Thursday; his mother Nicole said she would not be surprised if he was up at 5am, dressed, packed and ready to go.
“He is very excited,” she said.
She did not expect tears from Viktor when he arrived at school.
“He will be off and will tell me to stay at the gate,” Mrs Creighton said.
Without the support of The Shepherd Centre Mrs Creighton said Viktor would not be ready for school.
“They are just great,” Mrs Creighton said.
Viktor loved attending the School Readiness group at the centre; his favourite lesson was making popcorn and listening to the kernels pop.
The Shepherd Centre has an extraordinary track record with helping hearing impaired children improve their listening and speaking skills.
More than 90 per cent of the centre’s early intervention program children head to school with speech and language skills on par with, and often better than, their hearing peers.
Viktor was two years of age when his hearing issue was diagnosed.
He has moderate to mild deafness but thanks to his hearing aids he can hear well.
The staff from Terara Public School went out of their way to accept Viktor and several teachers have already received training so they can help him.
In class Viktor will make use of an FM system which means his teacher’s voice will be directed right into his hearing aid.
This means he will able to hear his teacher no matter what sort of noise is happening in the background.
Viktor is a regular visitor to Terara Public as his sister Raphaella attends the school.
He said he wouldn’t need his sister to look after him because he would look after her.
The Lyndhurst Preschool also accommodated Viktor’s needs and helped him get ready for the transition to big school.