Hsinchu junior high swim star with hearing aid wins the President’s Educational Award

Hsinchu junior high swim star with hearing aid wins the President’s Educational Award

2023-06-07

A Hsinchu junior high student has won the President’s Educational Award for her commitment to her studies and to competitive swimming. Lee Yi-ling was born hard of hearing and learned to talk with intensive speech therapy. Now the eighth-grader is shining on the school swim team. Her family says that her dedication to the sport is inspired by veteran Olympian Tsai Shu-min.

At the side of the pool, Lee Yi-ling takes off her hearing aid and puts in special earphones. The eighth-grader was born hard of hearing. She’s an unstoppable force of nature in the water, and now a recipient of the President’s Educational Award.

After training, she goes back to class, where’s she just as single-minded at her books.

Lee Yi-ling
School student and swimmer
I usually get up at 5 a.m., and it takes about 30 minutes to get here. First I warm up and then I change into my swimsuit and get in the pool.

Swim coach
Chien Kung Senior High School
She has some weaknesses in some areas, so we in the swim team tried using earphones, and then specially-made earphones, so that she could hear us in the water.

Lee’s natural gift for swimming is being honed by her early-morning training regimen, as well as the many years of experience of her swim team and coach. But the biggest encouragement comes from the example of another teenage girl and her triumphs more than 20 years ago.

Father of Lee Yi-ling
There was a student swimmer, called Tsai Shu-min, who won gold in the Asian Games. So when Yi-ling is training at the swimming school, that inspires her motivation to keep climbing.

Mother of Lee Yi-ling
He taught us how to help Yi-ling to practice speaking at home. And then she could really start spoken language therapy properly when we had the chance to go to the foundation and arrange classes for her.

Alongside practicing pronunciation at home, Yi-ling’s father used to take her into Taipei for speech therapy twice a week. Through years of hard work, and thanks to the dedicated support of her family and friends, Yi-ling has found a sport where she can shine.

"泳"往直前!克服先天聽損國二女獲總統教育獎

2023-06-07

新竹一名國二的女同學，患有先天性聽力障礙，無法聽到70分貝以下的聲音。不過她受到奧運選手蔡淑敏的影響，投入游泳項目中，努力不懈的練習，讓她成為游泳比賽的常勝軍，更獲得今年的總統教育獎。

在岸邊摘下助聽器，換上特製的耳機。今年國二的李翊菱，患有先天性聽力障礙，但在水中如蛟龍，不僅是游泳比賽常勝軍，也是今年總統教育獎得主。

訓練結束，回到班級上課，認真聽講，李翊菱在課業上，也跟她游泳一樣拚。

[[游泳選手李翊菱]]
“我平常都五點起床，然後30分鐘左右到這裡，然後一開始會先做操，做完操後把衣服換下來，就下水了”

[[新竹市建功高中游泳教練]]
“因為她可能有某部分的缺陷，那因為我們泳隊其實是有使用耳機，後來有嘗試看特製的耳機，能不能讓她在水裡面聽得到”

平時早起訓練，加上泳隊和教練的豐富經驗，李翊菱更能發揮自己的游泳技巧，這麼努力，來自於學姊的激勵。

[[李翊菱父親]]
“因為有一個學姊叫蔡淑敏，她曾經得過亞運的金牌，所以在游泳學校訓練的同時，也激起她這種往上爬的動力”

[[李翊菱母親]]
“他(志工)有教我們，怎麼在家裡跟翊菱做發聲練習，那等到有機會去基金會排程上課的時候，才真的進入語言復健的部分”

不只是在家用心做發聲練習，爸爸過去會一週兩次，載她到台北上課，也方便進行治療。李翊菱不只靠著自己的努力，還有周遭的人默默付出，才有如今的傲人成績。

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