Domenica
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Caption: SUCCESS: How The Advertiser reported Domenica's implant.
Transcript- Domenica can't wait to hear the bell ring
Louise Treccasi
Bubbly Domenica Calabrese cannot wait for her first day of school to "play with and hear all my new friends".
The Paradise five-year-old, who starts school today, was born deaf but a cochlear implant in 2003 changed her life when she was able to hear for the first time.
"I am a big girl now and I'm going to school," Domenica said yesterday. She will attend St Pius X Catholic School, Windsor Gardens.
Mother Julie said today was a "magical milestone: for Domenica who, for two years, lived in a world of silence.
"I really wanted her to go to a mainstream school rather than a special school so she can mix with the other kids," she said.
"She is so excited. She has been counting down the sleeps and trying on her uniform every day.
It's not just about having an implant. As a family, you have to put in the work and the early intervention and through the support and guidance from the Cora Barclay Centre and CanDo4Kuds-Townsend House we have taught Domenica to attach meaning to the sounds she hears."
Domenica's first cochlear implant operation, in 2002 failed but success followed and The Advertiser covered her story when the implant was switched on in December 2003.
Caption: EXCITED: Domenica Calabrese dressed in her school uniform and ready for her first day at school. Picture: Calum Robertson.