Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.
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discovered The Learning Center for the Deaf (TLC) in Framingham, Massachusetts and arranged for the Parent Infant Coordinator to visit them at their home with an interpreter. This was the first time that the Lualdis had ever communicated with a deaf person. They quickly deter- mined that Colin needed to acquire language and not simply speech skills in order to reach his cognitive potential and enjoy long-term happiness. The Lualdis learned American Sign Language (ASL), they participated in TLC's Parent Infant Program, enrolled Colin in the preschool pro- gram, and continued his education at TLC full time through elementary school. In middle and high school, Colin split his time between TLC and the Framingham Public Schools where he took honors and AP classes. They all felt it important for Colin to learn to navigate the hearing world and use interpreters in an academic environment in addition to becom- ing comfortable in the Deaf community among peers and role models. by the time Colin Lualdi was two months old, his parents suspected that he had some kind of hearing loss and mentioned it to the pediatric nurse practitioner. The nurse assured Danielle and Paul that Colin was developing just fine. They were just overly concerned first- time parents. Convinced that their instincts were right, Danielle and Paul con- ducted their own "creative hearing tests" and shared their findings at Colin's four-month-old visit. The pediatrician referred them to an audi- ologist and formal testing revealed that Colin was completely deaf. The Lualdis were stunned. They had been prepared for news of mild, not profound, hearing loss. This was in 1995, and Danielle and Paul immediately switched into high gear, resolving to find the best way to communicate with their son, to help him learn and appreciate the wonders of the world. They A Princeton Graduate, Research Physicist, and Entrepreneur Who is Deaf—With a Capital "D" E L I Z A B E T H S U N E B Y writer / B R I A N S M I T H photographer an interview with colin lualdi 64 W e l l e s l e y W e s t o n M a g a z i n e | s u m m e r 2 0 1 7