Hearing

Hearing impairment nowadays is becoming more common, especially among children and it is therefore given more importance. Parents are becoming more aware of the symptoms of hearing impairment and are given more awareness on the importance to intervene as early as possible. Therefore, since more hearing impaired children are being worked on from an earlier stage, one can notice an increase in the efficiency of communication of such children. Moreover, since every hearing impaired child has different communication needs, advances in technology have created different communication options and various substitutes for hearing impaired children to choose from. For some, they benefit enough from hearing aids or cochlear implants to be able to sufficiently access spoken language, while for others this may be difficult, so they opt for sign language. In conclusion, nowadays these children can lead normal lives and are mostly able to communicate their daily needs just like a hearing child would.

Communication is at the heart of educational process (Mogford – Bevan & Sadler, 1992). It is a well-known fact that a child’s hearing impairment, whether mild and fluctuating, or severe and irreversible can reflect on the child’s hearing. However, a hearing impairment not only imposes a threat to communication, but it firstly interferes with language acquisition and speech development. For hundreds of years, people have debated the best ways to provide communication skills and education for deaf and hard-of-hearing children. According to the National Institute of Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), the earlier deafness or hearing loss is identified, the better a child’s chances of acquiring language, whether spoken or signed. Howeve...

... middle of paper ...

...gn language; others will be dominant in the oral language, while others will be balanced in their two languages, depending on the child’s abilities.

‘Deaf children who cannot communicate with their parents in their early years run the risk of permanent psychological damage’ (Lynas et al, 1988). However, with early identification, today’s technology and the different slant on ‘oralism’ we are moving to an era where all deaf children are expected to achieve proficiency in oral language. As Ling (1988) stated, “…with the insightful application of present day knowledge and the selection and use of appropriate electronic devices, most hearing-impaired children, regardless of the extent of their impairments can be helped to acquire fluent perceptual-oral language skills that can enable them to communicate, compete and conform with the majority of their hearing peers”.