Our story
Our story
Our family (Ian, Ashley, and Henry Roberts) couldn’t be happier to share our story with you as a multi-generational cochlear implant family who have benefited immensely from the generosity of the state of Colorado, the Listen Foundation, incredible clinicians and therapists, and our support system of family and friends. Learning to listen and communicate is truly a community effort and a worthy cause impacting the lives and worlds of children with hearing loss.
If you’re a parent, family member, friend, clinician, therapist, educator, and/or care provider of a child with hearing loss, hearing aids, and/or cochlear implants who wants to learn more about this journey, you came to the right place!
Our son Henry (we call him Hankster) is now a year old, and he was diagnosed with hearing loss as a newborn. As we went through the process for him to receive hearing aids at two months old and eventually bilateral cochlear implants at nine months old (the same age his mom, Ashley, was first diagnosed with hearing loss as a baby — his dad, Ian, has normal hearing), we knew we wanted to create a safe and inspiring space where parents and experts can come together to share knowledge, resources, tools, experiences, and support to talk about hearing loss, parenthood, and much more — with the continuity of insights from Ashley as both a cochlear implant parent AND a cochlear implant recipient herself.
As Henry enters toddlerhood, he’s responding beautifully to his wide world of sound and language, lighting up when his devices are turned on, learning to talk with spoken and sign language, and developing on track with his peers.
We are fortunate that our extended family has an understanding of what goes into helping little ones with hearing loss learn to communicate and express themselves, and you can find our multi-generational insights, stories, and advocacy on social media and this website dedicated to Henry (you can find us on most social media platforms including Instagram, YouTube, and beyond — @HanksterHears).
We are very grateful for the therapy, support, and resources we’ve had access to, and for Henry to have the opportunity to receive cochlear implants at such a young age. If you’ve made it all the way to the end here, thank you. This community is meant to educate, guide, inspire, and support you — we encourage you to sign up for our email newsletter below and follow us on your preferred social media channels.
With gratitude,
Ashley, Ian, and Henry
This year (2022) marks the 30th anniversary of Ashley receiving a cochlear implant at age three. Ashley was one of the first young children in the country at that point to receive a cochlear implant (the old-school internal Nucleus 22 implant, for those familiar – which she still has internally today — compatible with the latest Nucleus 7 external speech processor, thank goodness!), and her world opened even more with increased access to sound. Ashley thrived with the help of auditory-verbal therapy, sign language, speech therapy, and family/community support. Her family lived overseas in Africa and Europe for over a decade, and she learned how to be independent while navigating different languages, accents, and cultures before returning to the U.S. for her undergraduate and master’s degrees. Ashley has been able to build a fulfilling career as a healthcare technology marketing executive, lead teams, work remotely, and provide strategic consulting services without relying on significant accommodations.
Although Henry’s hearing loss took us by surprise because our family does not have a history of hearing loss prior to Ashley’s diagnosis as a baby, we have found ourselves in a unique position to support Henry and advocate for hearing loss and listening and spoken language worldwide because of our deep familiarity with hearing loss. Ashley’s parents (Henry’s grandparents, who have normal hearing) are able to tap into their own experience raising a child with hearing loss, making critical personal decisions about spoken and sign language, and navigating the very early days of cochlear implants.
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If you’re a parent, family member, friend, clinician, therapist, educator, and/or care provider of a child with hearing loss, hearing aids, and cochlear implants who wants to learn more about this journey, you came to the right place!