ST. LOUIS (AP) – Carmen Valero-Aracama already had one advanced degree. She got another one for the simple reason that she wants a better understanding of her child.

Valero-Aracama earned a doctorate in horticulture years ago. This week, she was among 3,000 students who graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, earning a doctorate in audiology.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1RdbXJw ) reports that it has special meaning because her 10-year-old son, Luca Bostick-Valero, is deaf.

Valero-Aracama was living with her husband and then 9-month-old son in Florida when her husband was fatally struck by a car while riding his bike. Soon after that, she noticed signs that Luca had hearing loss. She moved to St. Louis when he was 4 because of the region’s resources for hearing-impaired people.