CID Family Story  
edited from a speech by Kathy Ahrens

When a baby is born with normal hearing, he learns to talk by listening to the sounds and speech around him. When a baby is born deaf, he can learn to communicate with the help of special auditory-oral training available at Central Institute for the Deaf.

My two sons, Steven (31) and Kevin (17) were both born profoundly deaf in both ears. Both boys can now talk and function independently due to the training and resources provided by CID.

Steven, born in 1975, appeared to be a very healthy baby until 9 months, when he was not responding to his name. By 11 months, it was determined he had a hearing loss and by 13 months, he was diagnosed with a bilateral deafness .We turned to CID to learn how to work with him at home. At 3, he was enrolled in CID as a full-time student, traveling about 100 miles roundtrip to school each day. Seeing your 3-year-old in another carpool as you’re crossing the Poplar Street Bridge to go to work was not easy for me.

CID teaches deaf children to function independently in a hearing world. Graduates of CID are not dependent on sign language to communicate. While at CID, Steven became  an Eagle Scout. He graduated from CID and, at 14, became the first deaf student at our local high school. CID’s support did not end with the graduation ceremony. The CID principal drove out to Staunton, Illinois, and provided training to the entire high school staff and individual classroom teachers on how to interact and teach an orally trained deaf student. CID continued to provide support through the beginning of his sophomore year and later in preparing for college.

Steven finished high school within 4 years, a feat some did not think possible. While in high school, he participated in all classroom activities, received his driver's license and originated and performed as the Bulldog mascot for the varsity basketball team. Fans wondered who was under the costume of his first performance and when they found out who it was, they wondered how he could perform with the music he was not hearing. Little did they know, he was watching me in the bleachers for the beat from the pep band drums and the rest of the performance was his choosing.

Steven lettered in varsity football as the defensive nose guard. When the superintendent invited our family to attend a school board meeting, he said to Steven, “I heard you are pretty good. How do you know what to do and when? Steven just shrugged and said "I watch the ball. When it moves, I move."

He later went to college (first away and then near) earning a degree in CADCAM, computer assisted drafting. He currently enjoys working as a certified landscape irrigation and lighting specialist leading a team of 4 to 5 landscapers. He is married to Jennifer (a hearing person … people always want to know, but don’t want to ask). They are the parents of a 'hearing’ baby, our first grandson - Brock! Steven is in the process of completing a remodeled/addition to their second home with the plans he drafted.

Kevin, now 17, was referred to as the “wild man” at CID! Just for starters, he was born on Christmas morning 1989 to a mom who was then 40! Before I left the hospital, I knew he was deaf. I informed the doctor, who nearly dropped to the floor. Now ...  to tell the family again. I knew the long road ahead of us and I wasn’t sure if I could do it again; however, I knew one thing for sure: I needed CID and on Day 8 I placed that call for support.

Kevin's speech training went very well and he began to use his voice. When he learned to talk with some clarity, he told us in the car that his name was Jesus (born on Christmas day). And his dad responded, "Jesus would have done his homework!"

Kevin received the same training at CID as his brother did. He was going to school full-time when he was 3 years old. His hearing loss was just a little less, which we learned would afford him the ability to hear vowel sounds that would make his speech more intelligible then his brother’s. This wasn’t all. CID helped us to diagnose Kevin with ADHD at 4 years of age. (Now you know where the “wild man” name came from.) The CID teachers stayed with Kevin and us through those difficult years of wild behavior and inattentiveness, and he finally graduated at the 6^th grade level. When he spoke at his graduation, his feet were still -- something the CID principal said would happen some day.

When Kevin entered our local school district, CID once again came out to Staunton, visiting 3 schools with me to ensure Kevin was going to attend the school best adapted and willing to meet his needs as an orally trained deaf student who loved to talk.

Last year, Kevin received a CIDAA Young Alumni award. He has also been acknowledged by Bank of America for his 2nd year volunteer efforts working with the St Louis Variety Club. He was a recipient of this year’s Staunton FFA chapter Star Farmer award. He made the quarterly and semester honor rolls for his first two years in high school earning an academic letter for this. Of course, Kevin is most proud of his his performance as a kicker on the high school football teams. He kicked a 37-yard field goal with the freshman team and a 60 yard kick-off with the varsity team during his second year and this year helped his team go to the state championship.

Because of early intervention, teamwork and the skill and dedication of CID, my sons are more than okay.

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