Cochlear Implant for a 5 year old?

My friend's daughter who just turned 5, failed her newborn test, and the follow-ups detected fluids behind her ear, making her have ear tubes inserted twice. Along with a lot of hearing tests, it has been discovered that she has severe hearing loss in both ears. And they recommended her to wear hearing aids. It seems that the hearing aids are helping a little, but the little girl is still not making full sentences.

She goes to a special class, and it seems to be helping but not that much.

Now my neighbor who has had cochlear implants, she showed me hers and told me about them. And I am very much interested in knowing more. The thing is the girl has some hearing in both ears, but not enough to keep a conversation going. And I hear that once the cochlear implant is in, it's a gamble and she might never hear anything again.

Should the girl wait until she is older to understand this surgery or should she go for now? What qualifies for a candidate?

If she is not doing well with the hearing aids, she should be tested by an audiologist and then see if she would qualify for a CI. They will not implant her if she has enough hearing and understanding of what she hears.
They will only do one ear at a time.
There are new CI hybrid implants that may let her keep her residual hearing. There is no guarantee that she will not be deaf after the implant and no guarantee that her residual hearing will remain.
Her parents should contact their local physicians to see if they can schedule a new audiogram and further testing to see if she qualifies. If she does, then they can speak with other physicians and get more than one recommendation.
The key here is asking questions from qualified people.
She may just be delayed due to her hearing loss. It takes alot for a person with hearing loss to process and understand what is being said. Does she carry on a conversation if it is quiet? What about if it is noisy?
Here are some links to share:

www.cochlear.com
www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/coch....
www.fda.gov/cdrh/cochlear
www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/cochlear-i...
deafness.about.com/od/basicsofcochlear...

Hope these help.

I'm not an expert but I believe implants are only considered for people who are totally (or almost totally) deaf. The implant will knock out whatever hearing the person has. So even if a child has significant hearing loss (60%) it's probably best to work with the 40% she has left -- making the most of it by using hearing aids. If my child could carry on a conversation with hearing aids, I wouldn't consider implants.