Answer:
While still in grade school, Aileen was found to have some hearing impairment. It was recommended that she should be fitted for a hearing aid but Lauri and Britta Wuornos* did not follow up and little Aileen received no help.
*Lauri (pronounced Larry) and Britta Wuornos were actually Aileen's grandparents but their daughter Diane abandoned her two older children, Keith and Aileen, and the older Wuornos' raised them as their own children.