Our journey from the beginning

Hi! We are the Walker family, and we have two boys Kayden who is 4 and Preston who is 2. Both of our boys have been diagnosed with bilateral sensioneural rapidly progressive hearing loss. Kayden was not diagnosed until he was 31/2 years old. Both boys passed newborn screening so we had no fear of them not hearing. It wasn't until Kayden was around the age of 18 mo. when the maternal instinct kicked in and I began every three months at the ENT telling them that the child could not hear. Every test they did on K came back questionable. This boy had no language at the age of 21/2. He was frustrated, he would hit me, bite me, and do the same to others. We had him evauluated for speech therapy 4 mo before he was three due to their still being no language. At this time the ENT was telling us that it wasn't his hearing, and even if it was it would not warrant hearing aids. He said K's lack of language was developmental. So I put it on the back burner for a little while and continued on with speech twice a week for my son. In November of 2010, we had the most awesome speech teacher at a nearby school. She did a preschool language assement on Kayden since he was working so well for her. The results devestated me. They showed that my son only understood language at the level of a 1 year old(he was 31/2). I immediately asked her could this be because he can not hear. She said yes and asked me why. She then refered us to the school district audiologist who tested K the next week. The results yielded a moderately severe hearing loss in both ears. I should have been devestated but instead I was so happy that someone finally had listened to me , the mom. I knew this was what was wrong and why he was not talking as good as he should have been. Then came the grieving process. I   was devestated. Could he be mainstreamed, will he ever talk, etc... My husband helped me through this time by telling me it could be worse and he is right. I know their is technology and language out their to help him. In Dec. 2010 K went to SIU at St. John's and saw his new audiologist. She was awesome, truly a gift from god. She helped us through everything, she found the funding and everything for his new magic ears. On January 10,2011, during a blizzard we drove up to get his magic ears, the look on his face was priceless. On the way home he was in the back of Dad's truck and could hear the exhaust pipes, and he was absolutely amazed. It was one of the greatest day's of my life. On January 22nd Preston was 18 mo old and he got tested for the first time. They found him to have a moderate hearing losss. He received his magic ears on March 7,2011.  Both boys hearing has continued to decline about every two in a half months. Kayden's hearing has worsened so much he is now what you would consider profoundly deaf and his hearing aids no longer work for him. He will be getting his first "fancy ear" cochlear implant on the right side in a few weeks. Preston is still in hearing aids for now, but the doctors see him with the cochlear in the near future also. On a more positive note since Kayden and Preston have received their magic ears, their language has improved. Kayden is talking in sentences, telling stories, he is hillarious. Preston can only say a few words, but he sure can sign what he wants.