FISHERS, Ind. — With the warming of the weather, Ben Daniel, like other 10-year-olds, is ready to take to the pitching mound and begin a new baseball season. "His coach called and Ben's eager to play," said his mother, Heidi.

Photo courtesy Topics Newspapers

Ben Daniel reads sign language of his educational interpreter who assists him in his fourth-grade class.

Ben is like many other boys when it comes to sports and school. He's a voracious reader of sports books, magazines and Harry Potter novels. And as a member of the Fishers Ward, Muncie Indiana Stake, he gives talks and prayers in Primary, and, as a Webelos Scout he is completing the requirements for his Gospel in Action award with his younger brother. "He also speaks of serving a mission," said Sister Daniel.

But Ben faces one challenge that his friends do not — he was born deaf.

Yet his inability to hear didn't deter him from contributing as a member of the first-place Spell Bowl team held last fall among the seven elementary and intermediate schools in the school district.

To compete in a contest waged on the heightened senses of hearing and speaking, Ben adapted by memorizing the definitions of each of the 750 words, as well as learning the spelling.

"There were four perfect scores from my school," Ben said, describing the tournament. "I missed one word. We all got medals."

"If you could spend some time with Ben you would find that he is a remarkable boy, and you may not even notice that he's deaf," said his fourth-grade teacher, David Greiwe at Cumberland Road Elementary, as quoted in an article published in Topics Newspapers.

"He fits in extremely well. He's very sharp. He's the best reader I've ever had — he consumes books," said Mr. Greiwe. "He's in advanced math and is mostly an A student."

His lack of hearing is "frustrating sometimes," said Sister Daniel, "but it never slows him down."

Still, Ben was not inclined to participate in the annual Spell Bowl out of a concern that judges might not understand his pronunciation of the words. But when he proved to be among the top 15 spellers in his class, he decided to try for a place on the team.

Photo courtesy Topics Newspapers

Ben helped his elementary school team win a spelling contest despite being deaf. He did three times the work of others, said the adviser.

"This group of 15 was then narrowed to eight members by a series of spelling tests," said Sister Daniel. For two months, from mid-September until mid-November, students met before school twice a week to be tested on 50 new words each week.

"Ben started as the 14th place speller because he didn't understand which word he was to spell," said Sister Daniel. "It's difficult communicating the word to be spelled without actually spelling it. There are no hand signs in sign language for many of the larger words used in spelling contests."

Learning the words was a monumental struggle, said Sister Daniel. "We would practice at home by giving hints or definitions of the words. Ben would then go to school where an interpreter — someone assigned by the district to help him communicate in school — would give different definitions for the words. It proved to be confusing and terribly frustrating."

Ben considered dropping from the team, but a former teacher who knew of his ability encouraged him to continue.

The Daniels came upon the solution as "the result of a lot of prayer," said Sister Daniel.

"It was a moment of genius after much frustration," said Ronnie Daniel, Ben's father. "After trying to learn about 150 words, Heidi was struck with the idea of making flash cards showing the definition. From the definition, Ben could spell the word."

For this approach to be successful, Ben needed a wide range of knowledge beyond merely spelling the word.

Sister Daniel looked up the definition of each word and created an index flash card. Ben then studied up to two hours most nights of the week memorizing the meaning and spelling of the words. "He studied before going to bed or on the bus," said his mother. "Sometimes I would remind him to study, but I never had to prod. His brother, James, (8) and his sisters, Libby (6) and Eva (3 months) were understanding and supportive.

"We were nervous sitting in the audience the night of the competition," said Sister Daniel. "Seven hundred and fifty words is a lot to memorize."

Judges made some leeway for Ben by allowing his interpreter to present the word. "She knew the words ahead of time and had the flash cards ready," said Sister Daniel. Ben read the definition and then spelled the word on paper.

" 'Anonymous,' is the only word he missed."

"Ben did a fantastic job. I am so proud of him," said the team adviser. "He really contributed to our team's first-place standing. He had to do three times more work than the others, and did extremely well."

Articles recounting Ben's effort have been printed in newspapers throughout the Midwest. "With this 15 minutes of fame," said Sister Daniel, "Ben has learned a good lesson that he can accomplish much, if he has the faith to try hard enough."

E-mail: shaun@desnews.com