John Tracy Clinic presents An Evening With Lee Woodruff

Best-selling Author and JTC Parent Alum

Please join us on our Los Angeles campus to celebrate the publication of Lee Woodruff’s moving and magical second book
PERFECTLY IMPERFECT: A Life in Progress (Random House © April 2009)
A chronicle of life as daughter, sister, friend, and wife, and mother of a child with hearing loss.

Tuesday • May 12, 2009

5:30 – 6:30 pm: Wine and hors d’oeuvres RECEPTION
Meet the author and receive one signed hardcover copy of Perfectly Imperfect
$40 per person - Click here to register and pay online for reception

6:30 – 8:00 pm: Reading, Discussion and Book Signing
Complimentary - RSVP via email to kness@jtc.org for this complimentary portion of the evening

Location: 806 West Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90007

Lee Woodruff is also the co-author of the widely acclaimed In An Instant, with her husband, ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff, about the struggles they faced together as Bob recovered from a traumatic brain injury sustained in Iraq. She is a free lance writer and contributing editor for ABC’s Good Morning America.

Scouts Expand Children's Library

January 29, 2009

Travis Custer, along with family guests and members and leaders of Boy Scout Troop 622 from Simi Valley, CA, delivered over 2,000 books they collected for the new Preschool Library.  The boys and their scout masters sorted and stacked the books, which are available for school and home use by all the children at JTC.

The new library helps fill the Educational Services Department’s objective to stress the importance of literacy in children with hearing loss and their families. Travis chose this project to fulfill his Eagle Scout Badge, the highest achievement award in the Boy Scout program.

JTC Receives Unique Disney Collage

January 15, 2009

It hung for years on the sconce lit walls in the historic lobby of the Best Western Hollywood Hills.  Alongside were similar displays featuring Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, Natalie Wood and other stars of Hollywood’s Golden Era.  On the first week of January 2009, a call came to JTC President Barbara Hecht from Bernard Adler, Senior VP at Best Western.  The hotel had decided to donate its prized Walt Disney memorabilia collage to John Tracy Clinic. Thus, a remarkable bit of Hollywood and John Tracy Clinic history now awaits the perfect spot at JTC’s Los Angeles campus. 

Besides delighting visitors and families alike, the collage will serve as a reminder to everyone of the clinic’s storybook Hollywood beginnings. Most people have heard that John Tracy Clinic was founded by Louise and Spencer Tracy, and named in honor of their son, John, who was born profoundly deaf.  Few may know that many icons of the silver screen shined their influence on this new kind of opportunity for deaf children, with its pioneering, parent-centered spoken language concept.  Many in the entertainment business even volunteered their time to help out at fundraising events. One such individual was Walt Disney, who served as a Founding Director, authorized special photography and deaf education training films, and, as the check in the center of the collage shows, became an early benefactor as well. Disney’s family has continued to support JTC’s mission ever since.

Thanks to Mr. Adler, Disney’s wise counsel and generosity will be honored every day at John Tracy Clinic for generations to come.

JTC Family Honored As Famous Alumni

January 2009

A John Tracy Clinic family was honored as Famous Alumni by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC).  Michael Chorost and his mother, Susan Chorost, were nominated by JTC to be recognized by this national accrediting council for institutions providing distance learning.  Michael and his mother turned to JTC’s distance education course when Michael received his first hearing aids at age three and was significantly delayed in communication.  Working intensively with JTC materials, Susan helped her son improve his language to a level where he was mainstreamed at age five and continued on through college, earning his Ph.D. from the University of Texas.  Simultaneously, the world class work at JTC gave Susan the background to pursue a career as a professional teacher of the deaf.  Michael is a visiting professor at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. His first book, Rebuilt (Houghton Mifflin), earned him the prestigious PEN USA’s 2006 Award for Creative Nonfiction.  Susan is an Assistive Technology Coordinator at Summit Speech School in New Jersey and a contributor to technical journals in the field. 

“John Tracy Clinic’s correspondence course became my lifeline.”  Susan Chorost

“It was personalized instruction and mentorship of extraordinary quality.”  Michael Chorost