GIRL: I am Stacey Williams, and I am in the sixth grade. I started to wear my hearing aids when I was in the third grade because I started noticing that I really couldn't hear very well.
WOMAN: When it was discovered that she was going to have to use hearing devices and so on, um, she was not very happy about it.
GIRL: She said that she didn't like to wear it because she said it was kind of uncomfortable.
TEACHER: What I want you to do is...
STACEY: When I wear my F.M. system, basically, I can hear the teacher louder, so I don'tget distracted much, and then I can stay and focus on school.
BEST FRIEND: People go up and ask her, like, "What's that in your ear? What's it for? What's it do?"
GUIDANCE COUNSELOR: I was brought in to kind of help her talk through it or help work out some of the issues that were making her unhappy about it.
BEST FRIEND: If someone makes fun, I'll get really mad.
GUIDANCE COUNSELOR: She could be comfortable with kids, um, in her own class who knew her, but then every year, when she started a new grade, what we all discovered was, well, then there would be a whole crop of new kids who didn't know anything about this, and all of a sudden, she found herself answering what she called "dumb questions" again.
STACEY: If a little girl or boy had to wear one of these and they didn't really like it as much as I did either, I would tell them, "Nobody can see that."
GUIDANCE COUNSELOR: What she and I have talked about is really making sure that you think, "Here is my chance to — to teach somebody about this interesting device," not take it as, "This kid is asking me nosy questions."
STACEY: It's important to have people like you, because I knew this one person that didn't have much friends. That was sad.
WOMAN: Right here. Feet are together.
GUIDANCE COUNSELOR: When I work with sixth graders, I really work with — it's as if I'm in a whole different ball game because they are in full-fledged adolescence.
PHOTOGRAPHER: 1, 2, 3. There are a lot of issues about peers because that's what adolescence is all about, so peers — which were becoming more and more important as the years go by — by sixth grade, it's paramount.
STACEY: It's kind of funny because some teenagers dress the same because they think it's cool, you know. They want to be popular.
BEST FRIEND: It's really important to be popular. That's how you, like, win a bunch of contests, like being president of the school.
STACEY: I heard, like, some people's been dreaming or trying to invent this little chip that's the F.M. and a hearing aid, and if I could wear it like an earring, it would be — I think it'd be really cool.
GUIDANCE COUNSELOR: She's made a lot of progress in her writing and reading because she's able to differentiate the sounds of so many words — a lot of the beginning consonant sounds and consonant combinations that she didn't have before, so she's able to be much more, uh, expressive, both orally and in writing.
BEST FRIEND: I think having a disability — I don't think it really matters. I just think, like, anyone who has a disability is just like everyone else.
[CHILDREN TALKING]
WOMAN: Stacey has been able to write more and for a longer period of time, using the AlphaSmart. Um, she has a difficult time, um, with writing paper and pencil, but when given the AlphaSmart, she can type and type and type. The AlphaSmart isn't just for kids with disabilities. Everyone gets a chance to use the AlphaSmart, so she doesn't really stand out.
BEST FRIEND:A best friend, to me, is someone who is trustworthy and who won't make fun of you or put you down and someone who will, like, stand by your side if you're, like, in trouble or something and try and help you. That's what I think a best friend is.
BEST FRIEND: ...Kids don't go to school
STACEY: What's the best thing about being a teacher? I guess, a best friend is, like, a person that... tries to be there for you always.
GUIDANCE COUNSELOR: You know, I think she's come a long way. Having friends is what gets all these kids through. When you feel you have friends, that will get you through those little bumps of adolescence, and it's reallyt he way to go.