By Steve Hartman
April 3, 2026 / 8:27 PM EDT / CBS News
Campton, New Hampshire — Seven-year-old Ben O’Reilly is deaf and has additional special needs. A first grader at Campton Elementary, Ben’s aide, Cheryl Ulicny, said he had been isolated at school.
“He didn’t have relationships with his peers or teachers, for that matter,” Ulicny said. “He was very alone. And he acted very alone.”
New Hampshire is one of the few states without a dedicated school for the deaf, and Ben is the only deaf student in his school district. Outside of Ulicny, there was almost no one in the school community who could communicate with him—at least at first.
The change began when several of Ben’s classmates, including Reid Spring, started learning a few signs.
“If he’s your friend, you can play with him, and he’s my friend,” Reid said of Ben.
Soon the whole class decided to learn sign language. Other teachers in different grades also began taking sign language classes and signing with each other, even when Ben wasn’t present.
“It’s fun communicating with Ben and playing with him,” Reid said.
Ben’s adoptive mothers, Etta and Marlaina O’Reilly, said they were overwhelmed when they learned how well he was being treated at school.
“It’s incredible,” Etta O’Reilly told CBS News. “I could barely breathe. Like it was just so overwhelming.”
Today, nearly every student and staff member at Campton Elementary knows at least some sign language. Ben’s parents say the change has had a profound effect on their son.
“It clicked for him that the sign language had value,” Etta O’Reilly said.
“You could just watch his world open up with communication. It was amazing,” Ulicny added.