Sophie is a cute little Maltipoo who accompanies owner Melanie Paticoff on school, library and hospital visits as a therapy dog brightening days. She is also the subject of Paticoff’s children’s book, Sophie’s Tales: Learning to Listen, which teaches about hearing impairment and cochlear implants. Paticoff, originally from New York, has a younger cousin with profound hearing loss who moved to St. Louis to attend the Moog Center for Deaf Education. Paticoff had watched her cousin’s struggles growing up with hearing disability and saw how the Moog Center’s teachers worked wonders to help her cousin and family communicate and maintain close relationships. “I’m so thankful for that. I want to do that for other families,” she says. And so Paticoff moved to St. Louis to study deaf education and audiology at Fontbonne and now Washington University.
Sophie’s Tales, with adorable fluffy puppy illustrations by Chrissie Vales, helps children feel comfortable about cochlear implants and find a friend in little Sophie, who in the story has hearing loss and is fitted with hearing aids, then has cochlear implant surgery. Readers without hearing loss may wonder how Sophie can hear Dr. Hearwell talk to her but not her owner calling out to her to come back in the house. Those who are labeled deaf often are not completely deaf, just as many who are blind often still retain some vision. Certain sounds may be easier to hear, and voices may be easier to comprehend in certain situations. Sophie accompanies her owner on school and library visits where Paticoff reads Sophie’s Tales and discusses hearing loss and its implications. Sophie even has her own alter ego – the book can be ordered with a little stuffed toy Sophie from the Sophie’s Tales website. Also, Paticoff can be contacted for educational visits through the website. Stay tuned for more episodes of Sophie’s Tales.
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