Gail Dunlap Reuben of Convent Station, an audiologist, and Laura McKirdy of Far Hills, a speech and language pathologist, are co-founders of The Lake Drive Programs for Children Who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing. It is a school they created to demonstrate their passion to change lives and institute high academic standards for students with hearing loss. The school, the first non-residential one for deaf children in the state, offers a comprehensive continuum of educational opportunities for children with hearing loss from birth to high school graduation. One-hundred-and-eighty students from 11 counties, 60 infants and toddlers and more than 30 school districts with mainstreamed hearing impaired students depend on Lake Drive for support services. Earlier in their careers, Reuben and McKirdy fitted deaf babies with hearing aids and taught them to listen, talk and communicate. At Lake Drive, there is a state-of-the-art audiology department, an award-winning speech and language program, a proactive mental health program and practical skills of daily living program. Through The Lake Drive Foundation, two pilot programs, Precious Years and Ivy Nursery, show promise for expansion in the state. Their vision has enabled thousands of hearing impaired children fulfill their potential, earn scholarships, attend college and lead successful, independent lives.

The Lake Drive Program provides New Jersey’s most comprehensive continuum of educational opportunities for deaf and hard of hearing children, from ages 3 to 21, empowering them to fulfill their individual academic, communicative, social and personal potential. As a division of the Mountain Lakes public school district, Sound Start provides children who are deaf or hard of hearing with teachers; speech, physical, and occupational therapists; audiologists; social workers; and psychologists from birth through high school.