About 8 years ago a local school district office (San Marcos) called SOS to ask for help for one of their freshman students. We were told that this young man was a straight A student throughout his school years until he became a freshman, and that his grades suddenly started falling after he entered the 9th grade. After investigating as to reasons why , thinking it was possibly family problems, depression, or involvement in gangs. No one could figure it out, until someone finally suggested having his hearing checked.They found out that it was because of a hearing loss. This young man had some degenerative hearing loss going on but the boy didn't want to tell anyone for fear other kids would make fun of him, so he never told anyone. He just tried sitting in front of the classroom but it wasn't working. So the School District contacted us for help, knowing we provide services for the Deaf, but could we help this young man who didn't know asl or have a connection to the deaf world. Of course we said yes, we would try and see what we could do. Signs Of Silence has a relationship with several Audiologists in North County, so we researched several resources and discovered there is a Hearing Foundation in Minnesota called Starkeys and they provide hearing aids for low income families who qualify. Perfect!! We made the connection between the family and Starkeys and sure enough, this family qualified and the young HS student was given 2 brand new hearing aids for free, worth $3000. Once he was fitted and starting using his hearing aids he went back to being an A student again. All were happy and the boy was given a second chance because of the services SOS provides and the connections we have. We love seeing someones life improved simply by asking for help. Another one of the many successes here at SOS. Please keep visiting our website, more good news to come!