Whiz Kid: Mikulash Javorsky Overcomes Challenge to Join Integrated Classes

Each week, Reading Patch will select a Whiz Kid of the Week. This week, we chose Mikulash Javorsky, an 8-year-old Birch Meadow Elementary student who joined an integrated classrooms for the first time this year.

• Mikulash Javorsky, age 8
• Mikulash is a second-grader at
• Bruce Oliver, Mikulash’s father, said his son this year integrated into mainstream classes in Reading—an accomplishment for Mikulash, who was born deaf and has heard the world through cochlear implants since he was four and a half years old.
• Oliver said that Mikulash’s progress is due to his hard work and the aid of groups in the area—particularly the SEEM Collaborative for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in North Reading. Mikulash, Oliver said, also attends classes at , participates in Cub Scouts and takes music lessons at the . Hearing with cochlear implants, Oliver said, is more difficult than natural hearing because it requires active rather than passive listening. As an exercise to improve that skill, Oliver said, Mikulash has taken to learning the guitar.
  Oliver said Mikulash is “always up to a challenge” and is “just a good boy who wants to be accepted and be a positive member in the community.”