Watch Cordeaux Heights girl’s face light up as implants switched on: video

The three-year-old girl, who was born with a moderate hearing loss, underwent surgery for bilateral implants in April and the expression on her face said it all.

‘’We’d been warned that despite the videos you see online of young children smiling when their implants are switched on, we should expect crying or shock because that’s the more usual reaction,’’ Mrs Shaw said.

‘’So when Mia’s eyes opened wide and she gave the biggest grin we’d ever seen, it was just beautiful.’’

Mia was three days old when she failed the mandatory newborn hearing screening in hospital. Mrs Shaw asked for the test to be repeated three times, desperately hoping it was wrong.

‘’As a first-time mum it was pretty hard to take,’’ she said. ‘’But Sydney children’s hospital confirmed that she had moderate hearing loss and would need aids.

‘’Wrestling with hearing aids on tiny newborn ears wasn’t easy but she took to them immediately – she didn’t know any different.’’

The family received a lot of support from The Shepherd Centre which helped when their second daughter Halle, now two years old, was also diagnosed with moderate hearing loss.

They’re taking part in the centre’s annual fundraiser – Loud Shirt Day – on October 21 to raise much-needed funds and awareness for deaf and hearing impaired children.

It costs the NSW-based charity over $18,000 per child, per year, to provide the vital early intervention services that have helped the girls so much.

‘’The Shepherd Centre has been an outstanding support for all our family. The girls love attending their joint sessions with their therapist,’’ Mrs Shaw said.

‘’We are organising a fundraiser for Loud Shirt Day at our dance school (Tara Becker School of Dance) as our way of giving back.’’

The girls have developed good speech and language skills through the program, however it was their therapist that picked up that Mia was having some difficulties earlier this year.

‘’The hearing aids were just turning up the sounds Mia was able to hear, but the more they were turned up, the more foggy and distorted they became,’’ Mrs Shaw said.

‘’So while she could speak clearly, she wasn’t picking up high frequency sounds and there were concerns she wouldn’t progress well at school.

‘’While the surgery took away any natural hearing she had, it created a new pathway to her brain so she now has a clear signal.’’