Implant has been a sound investment for Schlitt and Oceanside

When Lauren Schlitt's name was called over the loudspeaker during opening introductions of a recent lacrosse game, she got up and greeted her team. When the whistle blew during the game, she stopped to see what was called. When her coach wanted to substitute her out of the game, she ran off the field.

What may sound like simple tasks for any other athlete aren't as easy for the Oceanside senior - because Lauren Schlitt was born deaf.

Just a few days after her birth in January, 1992, Schlitt's parents learned that just like Lauren's grandmother and uncle (both on her mother's side), and older sister Brianna, their daughter was born without the ability to hear.

Rather than isolate her daughters by placing them in deaf-only schools and forcing them to communicate via sign language, Suzanne Schlitt opted for both girls to receive a cochlear implant, a new technology at the time. Lauren's implant is behind her right ear, and allows her limited hearing in face-to-face conversation.

"We changed our kids' destiny by giving them an implant," Suzanne said. "We wouldn't be here [at Oceanside] if I didn't give them the implant. We'd be at . What we knew was that, to survive in the world, you have to be able to communicate.

"But once you get the device, you don't just walk away and say 'OK, we're all happy,' " she continued. "If you don't lift those weights, you're not going to have those big biceps. It's the same process with this."

So Lauren, at just 6 months old, spent six-hour days at a BOCES learning center, learning sounds and proper speech techniques. By the time kindergarten started, she was on a normal track.

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She was teased occasionally in elementary school, but now, most people don't even realize she's deaf because her hair generally covers the implant.

"I'm so positive about it," Schlitt said without any inkling her hearing is impaired because her speech is so clear. "I'd rather hear than sign. If I didn't have a cochlear implant, it would be a huge difference in my life. I'm happy my mom put a lot of time in for a speech therapist to help me be this way and be successful."

Schlitt gravitated toward sports at a young age, and by the time she reached high school, she was a star on the basketball court and lacrosse field. She earned all-conference honors in both sports.

The attack/midfielder concluded her athletic career at Oceanside on Wednesday with a loss to Port Washington in the first round of the Nassau Class A playoffs. She scored her 26th and 27th goals of the season in only her 11th game.

Despite scholarship offers from Division I lacrosse programs, Schlitt opted to play at Division II Kutztown because she said she'll be provided an atmosphere most conducive for her to learn and play.

"I will do everything I need to, to make sure Lauren feels no different than the rest of my team," Kutztown lacrosse coach Sarah Greer wrote in an e-mail. "I will work with her to make sure she is getting the individual support she needs."

Over the years, Schlitt has learned to play sports with her disability. She can sometimes hear things on the basketball court because it's indoors, but she's "oblivious," as she puts it, on the lacrosse field when the distance between her teammates or her coach is too great. As a result, she always has her head on a swivel to see her coaches' instructions and where her teammates are positioned.

"I have to make sure I look at them so they don't think I'm ignoring them," Schlitt said.

Her longtime coach at Oceanside, Ken Dwyer, thinks Schlitt's disability helped the team in some ways.

"As a team, it makes us all a little more aware," he said. "It makes us communicate better because we know everyone needs to see one another. In some ways, she's more in tune to the game because she knows she needs to account for it."

Off the field, Schlitt leads a mostly normal life. She may not be able to accompany her friends to the movies, but she hangs out - and gets fresh with her mother - just like a regular teenager.

Suzanne said, laughing: "She's a very typical teenager, it annoys me."

Said Lauren: "I can't picture myself not hearing. Well, I can't hear, but I couldn't picture myself in the deaf community, signing to everybody. I would be more frustrated with that than anything. And I'm playing the sport I love, so I'm happy."