Reagan Wilson

It wasn't until Reagan turned 3 that we found out she was moderately/severely deaf in both ears. We were shocked to receive this news as Reagan and her twin brother, Reid, both had passed their newborn hearing tests. However, we were determined to meet this challenge head-on by quickly getting her fitted with hearing aids, enrolling her in a pre-school program and taking her to one-hour speech therapy sessions twice a week. Because of her severe and undetected hearing loss, Reagan had missed out on valuable years of listening, learning and language skills.

Even though her hearing aids assisted her ability to perceive voices and sound, Reagan would continue to 'shut down,' become introverted, and often times display bouts of anxiety and frustation with others because she did not truly understand what was said to her, nor did she have the capability to communicate her needs, ideas and feelings in return. She had always been a hard-worker at home and at school, but it was apparent that, despite all that we had been doing for her to get her caught up to her hearing peers, Reagan needed additional assistance provided by audiology experts within the educational field.

Our journey with CCHAT began in July 2012, during its three-week summer school program. The entire CCHAT staff, teachers, teacher's aides and former students welcomed Reagan and her twin brother with open arms. Surrounded by warm smiles and an enormous amount of enthusiasm each day, it was clear to us that CCHAT was the perfect educational and social environment for our twins to thrive. Remarkably, in this short amount of time during summer school, Reagan began to evolve in to a completely different child. Participating in a classroom filled with other students that wear hearing aids and cochlear implants helped Reagan to truly understand that she is not alone on this life-long passage. With this new found sense of camaraderie with her peers, Reagan's confidence began to soar. Friends and family members that hadn't seen her in a while noticed immediately. She smiled more, and became more outspoken and expressive with her ideas and experiences. Reagan began to shine!

In the fall of 2012, Reid and Reagan enetered their first year at CCHAT, and we are forever grateful. Every day, they wake up thrilled to go to school! Leah is an extraordinary teacher -- she is so patient, compassionate and encouraging to all the students. Reid and Reagan are actually reading and writing...we love Leah! And Matt is always so helpful and fun with all of the kids...it's an outstanding classroom!

Every day, Reagan attends speech therapy with Lisa, and words cannot fully express our heartfelt gratitude towards her. She has given Reagan the confidence, self-advocacy and the invaluable tools to process spoken language, allowing Reagan's receptive and expressive skills to thrive beyond measure. During our time at CCHAT, Lisa has not only become Reagan's greatest champion, she has also become a dear friend to our family.

From the moment we first walked through the doors at CCHAT, Licia took our family under her wing. She has always been a positive, genuine and honest friend, and we feel incredibly relieved to know that Licia will always stand shoulder to shoulder with us - as a life-long friend and mentor - as we continue to move forward on our journey!

This fall, Reid and Reagan will be transitioning to our local public elementary school. Thank you CCHAT! Our hearts continue to melt each and every day as we watch our beautiful Reagan continue to blossom into an assertive, ambitious and amazing little girl. We are deeply grateful to Leah, Lisa, Licia and Laura for always having our back...YOU ROCK! The entire staff at CCHAT is incredible, and they continue to serve as an inspiration to our family. We are forever in your debt. ~ The Wilson family.

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