Kaiden passed his newborn hearing test, but by the time he was two, his mom Brooke noticed he stopped saying the handful of words he knew and would instead take his parents by the hand and guide them over to the kitchen when he wanted food or water. They saw an audiologist and learned the shocking news that Kaiden is profoundly deaf – this means he has very little to no hearing. Brooke and her husband Mason wondered what Kaiden’s life would look like and ways they could help him succeed in a future career, school and sports.
They also threw themselves into learning about his options: Kaiden could undergo cochlear implant surgery, they could begin to learn and use American Sign Language (ASL) to be used as his primary language, or a combination of both. They decided to move forward with cochlear implants and started learning ASL. They were then referred to the audiology team at the Alberta Children’s Hospital who decided Kaiden would need surgery urgently to give it the best chance of success.
Because Kaiden had passed his newborn hearing test, it led to late diagnosis, which is considered a developmental emergency. These occur when a child’s hearing loss is undetected or is identified after six months of age. This is because language development is a critical part of a child’s development, and children learn language between birth and five years old. Doctors didn’t want Kaiden to miss the language window, decreasing the potential for him to speak in the future, so they scheduled the surgery for the earliest possible date. Brooke said amid the whirlwind experience, their audiology team explained everything in a way they could understand, including their options and next steps. In May, Kaiden underwent surgery to install his cochlear implants – small electronic devices that allow people with hearing loss to hear sound. Several weeks later, after recovering from surgery, Kaiden’s implants were turned on and he had further testing with audiology and speech to make sure he was tolerating the processors. By the end of September, Brooke says, Kaiden started to respond to noise and a few months later, his name. He has recently been starting to try to speak – saying words like “more,” “book,” and “all done,” along with performing the signs for them. “It’s been really cool watching him connect the sound to life,” Brooke says. “He’ll shake a bottle and sign ‘listen.’” Previously, Brooke says, Kaiden struggled with feeling frustrated, but this process has given him a way to communicate with his family, which is exciting for him, and for them too.
Kaiden loves the hospital and his family does too! Whenever they drive by, Kaiden points to the building and signs “play.” He is still working on distinguishing between different noises, and working with his speech pathologist weekly. The journey to see how he will respond to the implants is ongoing, but his family is so thankful for the audiology team who has given them an amazing gift to help Kaiden communicate with his family and the world around him.
