Hearing Mom Talks Raising Two Deaf Sons and the 'Magical' Moment They Could Hear for First Time

Felicia Aquilo and husband Steve, who are both hearing, are the parents of two sons who are deaf: Silas, 5, and Isaiah, who turns 2 this month

The Ohio couple never expected one, let alone both, of their children to be born with profound hearing loss because they had no family history to indicate it.

Felicia Aquilo and husband Steve are parents to two sons, Silas, 5, and Isaiah, who turns 2 later this month. Since both parents can hear, communication looks a little different for the family of four, who use both ASL (American Sign Language) and spoken language because both sons now have cochlear implants.

“When we found out about Silas, it was a complete shock. We didn’t have anyone in our family who was deaf, so we didn’t even know it was a possibility,” Felicia tells PEOPLE. “When they said he didn’t pass the hearing test and there could be fluid, I thought everything would be normal, everything would be great.”

“Fast forward two months, we went to an audiologist and they did an ABR (auditory brainstem response) test and confirmed it was profound hearing loss, which meant he was profoundly deaf and wasn’t going to get better.”

After learning of Silas’ diagnosis, Felicia says she went through a grieving process.

“I didn’t know what the relationship with my child would look like because of communication and what his life would be like. I didn’t know anything about deaf culture or the deaf community,” she says.

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Three years later, the couple had a son, Isaiah, who was born with “severe to profound” hearing loss.

“He has access to some frequencies,” Felicia explains. “So hearing loss is a spectrum and some frequencies he can access without any hearing aids, but they are very few and far between. And he wouldn’t get the speech sounds to develop spoken language without hearing aids.”

After Silas was born, Felicia says it took her “probably about six months of that grieving period to really jump into ASL.”

“We started to introduce some signs with my son Silas at the very beginning. His first sign was at 7 months, he signed ‘mommy’ and ‘milk’.”

Making the decision to try cochlear implants for their boys was not an easy decision for the couple. While Felicia and Steve initially wanted to let their sons decide for themselves about the surgery, they changed their minds after talking to various experts.

“We were told to get cochlear implants as young as possible, statistics show that the earlier it is done, the better the chances of developing spoken language,” she explains. “If we give them the opportunity to develop spoken language by giving them access to sound and ASL, they can really decide when they’re older what method of communication they want to use down the road.”

Silas was 18 months old when he received a cochlear implant, and Isaiah was 10 months old. Seeing both sons get a chance to hear for the first time was “pure magic,” says Felicia.

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“I didn’t know if he would ever hear me say ‘I love you’ or if he would ever use his voice,” she says, becoming emotional. “It’s a miracle for them that they don’t have sound, and then suddenly they can access things that we hear. It was a magical experience.”

Felicia notes that one of the most beautiful parts of her experience as a parent is watching her sons form an incredible bond.

“When we told Silas that Isaiah was going to have cochlear implants just like him, and he was deaf like him, he said, ‘He’s going to have my ears? Not like yours and daddy’s ears?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, they’ll have ears like yours,'” she recalls. – He was very excited.

“Ever since then, Silas knows he has to sign a contract with Isaiah when he’s not wearing his processors. When Isaiah’s processors fall off, Silas is there to put them back on. Or he’ll come and tell me.” she continues. “Or if he notices the battery is dead, Silas will either go change it himself or tell me.”

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“He’s Isaiah’s biggest advocate. He tells everyone we meet that his brother is deaf and you have to use sign language and look at him when you speak,” she shares. “Pretty much everything I’ve said to people that Silas has heard me say, Silas says for his brother, which I think is really cool.”

Felicia has been documenting her experience raising Silas and Isaiah on social media in hopes that she can help other families — just as so many others have done for her.

“I started sharing because when I first went through it, the moms and dads I met in that space who shared their stories were the reasons I got through it,” says Felicia.

“They helped me a lot because they could see what they were going through and how they deal with things,” she adds. “I know that even if I help one person by sharing my experiences, I’m doing something good. If it weren’t for those families who do the same, I don’t know how I would have succeeded.”

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Source: HIS Education