Inspiring Grad Shares Secret of Success

    Tomorrow Cassie Guilbeau will walk across the stage at Bethany Christian Church with her classmates to receive her diploma.  It is a milestone in a long journey.  “Very few children are born deaf,” mom Melissa said.  “Usually it is a progressive hearing loss that appears in the first year.”  This was Cassie’s situation.  At 10 months, her parents suspected there was a problem, which was confirmed when they had her tested at 11 months.  Giving infants implants was not practiced back then.  As it was, Cassie was one of the youngest recipients of a cochlear implant at 3 years of age.  “Cassie cried when she first got it because she heard the dog bark and it frightened her,” shared Melissa.   Cassie grinned, “One of my favorite stories from when I was little was when I was bad, my dad would start signing to me.  I would cover my eyes and turn off my implant!”

    Daily speech therapy, learning sign language, special tutoring all became part of Cassie’s life.  She attended Baton Rouge Speech and Hearing 5 times a week, then it was time for Kindergarten.  “We did whatever it took,” stated dad Marty, “We were fortunate, we found a former school teacher who was working with hearing impaired kids.  She worked with Cassie every day until the 4th grade. “ When Cassie was facing 6th grade, she made the choice, with parental misgivings, of trying school all on her own.  “I wanted to see how hard it would be,” Cassie said, “so I would know how hard it would be in high school and college.” 

    Marty and Melissa were determined from the beginning to give Cassie a regular school experience, but they faced resistance.  Marty remembered, “She was the first kid in East Baton Rouge Parish who was hearing impaired and went to her home school.  Lasalle Elementary had all the Hearing Impaired resources, but it was not what we wanted.  We researched the Individuals with Disabilities Act, which states that the first place a student should be placed in is the least restrictive environment.“  This is when the Guilbeaus found out the state was out of compliance with federal law.  The Guilbeaus insisted that Cassie be able to go to her home school, which was Tanglewood.  “We weren’t asking for anything outrageous, just a signing interpreter,” said Marty.  After a lengthy run around and lots of feeble excuses on the part of EBRP, Marty finally went to Superintendent Gary Matthews’ office.  Dr. Matthews finally made it happen.  This fight for Cassie’s rights was one of the major motivators in Marty’s 10 year odyssey in helping Central to gain its own school system, then to become a school board member.

    Cassie herself acknowledges the challenges she faced.  “6th grade was really hard.  It was hard to understand what I was hearing.  My hearing is not like normal people’s.  I had to catch on by reading lips.  I read lips every day.  I was exhausted by the end of the day from the intense focus, but then I’d still have homework to do.  I had to have a lot of help.  I kept pushing people away because I thought I could do it on my own.  I was wrong.  In middle school I couldn’t believe I’d make it thru to high school, but I did.  I made it.”

    High school was a whole other world for Cassie.  She learned to get used to distracting background noises, to accept help.  She joined the Kittens dance team, and loved it.  This year, Cassie won the title of Miss City of Central, which she has found a lot of fun.  She is looking forward to going to BRCC, then to LSU to study architecture.  “I couldn’t do it without my parents, my friends, and my tutors.  I am grateful to have such great parents and family.  Stephanie Hebert, Lisa Cook, June Street, Donna Stephens, and Nicole Breedlove all worked hard to tutor me.  My awesome friends all treat me like I’m normal.  I don’t know what I’d do without them.  They’ve all believed in me, that I could do it.  Especially my parents, they’ve done everything to make my life easier.  I would tell others facing challenges: don’t give up!  I promise you, it will be worth it in the end!  I’m ready to graduate, to go to college and have a normal life.  I can’t wait to see what my future holds!”