Who is Kenneth Miller

Kenneth has always been an inspiration to me. He has been a fighter since the beginning, and hasn't let up yet.

Kenneth was born prematurely. During labor he caught Pneumonia and the day after he was born his lungs collapsed. Kenneth fought so hard for his life, and was well enough to go home in two weeks.

He struggled for the next three years, often battling bronchitis. His lungs were very weak from birth till about age three. We did many rounds of breathing treatments throughout this time in his life. The treatments were exhausting for our whole family. I would have to give them to him around the clock, every 4 or 5 hours. Kenneth would scream throughout these treatments and I'd have to hold him down. I spent many nights holding him down and crying with him.

At age four Kenneth began school. He had a tough time staying still and concentrating during class time, he was soon diagnosed with ADHD. Kenneth had always been very hyper and rarely calmed down accept when he was asleep.

We put Kenneth on meds, which helped him focus in school, but he was still having difficulty learning. Someone at the school even suggested to me that he might have mild brain damage from the oxygen he received at birth. I knew that was not the case, he was just too good as figuring things out at home and in other areas of his life.

Kenneth is full of energy. He's always on the go. If he's sitting still he's tapping a foot or moving in some other way. Sometimes just watching him makes me tired.

Before my granny died she'd always say, "If I could bottle his energy, I'd be rich". I think she was right, now I just need to know how to do it.

We didn't find out Kenneth was hard of hearing until he was six years old. There were many things that contributed to his late diagnosis, but I am just thankful we found out what was wrong.

Kenneth is missing 85% of his hearing in both ears. He wears hearing aids to correct the impairment, but he still misses quite a bit. There are sounds he doesn't hear at all with normal speech, and he doesn't hear sound well from a distance. If there is background noise his hearing ability is reduced drastically.

Since being diagnosed Kenneth has had so much improvement is school. He makes A's and B's, reads on grade level, and is in advanced math. He is amazing, and I'm not just saying that because I'm his mama.

Kenneth reads lips very well to help compensate for his hearing loss which is both good and bad.