The Importance Of Language Deprivation In Children

Cochlear implants are becoming more and more popular now. Even babies as young as 12 months are receiving a cochlear implant. For hearing parents it’s more convenient to have their child get a cochlear implant rather then to learn sign language. Hearing parents usually just look for the simple way out because they don’t want to have a child who is “different.�

Language is communicated in various ways. Yet, there are still children who are denied the privilege of having one. Only ten percent of deaf children are born to deaf parents. This means around ninety percent are born to hearing parents. Most hearing parents have never been exposed to American Sign Language (ASL), so they do not teach it to their deaf child. One of the main reasons this happens is hearing parents tend to deny their child's deafness (Gray, n.d.). Instead, they choose to have their baby get a cochlear implant (CI). Parental decisions regarding cochlear implantation may be influenced by what they understand it means to be deaf. Basically, they see being deaf as a disability and are more apt to consider

“Oral language is a skill that is acquired naturally by the young. The importance of its development in early childhood cannot be overemphasised. It underpins the whole scope of learning and is employed to question, to seek information and to proffer ideas. A child who has a well – grounded ability in oral language will usually be nicely poised to cope with reading and writing. Anyone who lacks this will be at a disadvantage.” (J.Fellowes & G.Oakley, 2010, pp4) It is a vital component of every human beings life as it is a means of communication and interaction with their family, friends and

Mark Drolsbaugh presentation titled “Madness in the Mainstream” encompassed Deaf education and challenges Deaf children face with mainstream education. Drolsbaugh was born hearing and as he grew up, he had progressive hearing loss and became Deaf by college. Luckily for him, he was born into a Deaf family. Drolsbaugh went on to Graduate from Gallaudet and wrote for different deaf newspapers and publications and became a school counselor. He had written four books by 2014 pertaining to the Deaf community. Madness in the Mainstream was actually his fourth book and was the basis to this presentation.

Early intervention, at its core, is “services provided to infants and toddlers who are at risk for, or showing signs of developmental delays” (Coleman, 1993). The intervention is individualized for each child and family and their specific needs. Thus, when the service providers work with the families, they can “create optimal environments for language learning” (Moeller, et. al., 2013). Research shows that language of routines and joint attention are two successful evidence based practices families and interventionist can use with children who are d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Joint attention relates to “the eliciting and directing of another person’s attention to an object for mutual engagement with the object,” (Tasker, Nowakowski, & Schmidt, 2010) while language of routines emphases the idea that “when a child is familiar with routines, the interventionist can focus on scaffolding new and more complex learning” and language (Vygotsky as cited in Jennings, Hanline & Woods, 2012). By utilizing both methods of interventions in a child’s natural environment, their language will flourish.

Studies have shown that if a child receives a cochlear implant before the child is 18 months old followed by intensive therapy the child is likely to develop language skills that are comparable to their peers and many children are able to attend mainstream schooling. This sounds great to parents, but what happens when the cochlear implant doesn’t work or if the child doesn’t receive the necessary therapy for understanding sound using the cochlear implant. Because the children were not exposed to American sign language (ASL) this can delay the children education and learning compared to their peers. When children are born to hearing parents they want the child to be like them and be able to hear. To the hearing, deafness is a disability and if there is a way that they can make their child hear, most parents will do everything in their power to make sure they can give that to their child. Then again, many parents forget is that living with a cochlear implant is a lifelong process and involves years to decades of therapy for their child. And if a child receives the implant later than 18 months old it becomes harder for the child to understand speech from a cochlear implant and more intensive therapy for the child. Children start learning language from their parents listening to them talk to others and talk to the baby. If the child is deaf, they are missing this important development of speech, which makes it harder for the child to learn to speak and understanding language. Also, most hearing parents don’t know ASL or sign fluently to be able to teach their children the language and help them to start learning and be able to communicate with society. Today there are still parents that will not learn ASL even though their child is deaf or maybe they received a cochlear implant and it didn’t work. This

Development focuses on information processing, conceptual resources, language learning, and other brain development and psychology. A significant amount of research has focused on cognitive development and the deaf community because it is considered the domain for language development. In 1987, Abraham Zwiebel conducted research with three groups of deaf children—a) children from all deaf families that used manual communication, b) deaf children of hearing parents that used partial manual communication, and c) deaf children of hearing parents that used aural/oral communication-- and a group of hearing children. He studied cognitive development using three measures—teacher evaluations, the Draw-a-Person test, and the Snijders-Oomen Non-Verbal Test. The research concluded that manual environment factors are responsible for the higher cognitive development of deaf children of deaf parents (Zwiebel, 1987). Zwiebel’s research holds merit today because of his use of grouping and differentiating within the deaf community along communication

American Annals of the Deaf is an educational journal that is committed to providing educational experiences of high quality as well as related services for the deaf. This journal has been around for over 150 years, and over time they have been dedicated to making sure that children and adults who are deaf or hard of hearing are receiving quality assistance for their disability (NEED CITATION). In July 1996, they published a scholarly article in response to a survey Catherine Gillespie and Sandra Twardosz conducted about the literacy environment and different practices that children are receiving in a residential school for the deaf.

Getting parents involved is essential to supporting the development of a child with hearing loss. Counselling parents on the type and degree of hearing loss their child has and the effects of hearing loss is important. It is important to not focus solely on what the child cannot hear but also what the child can hear. Parents will need a lot of support in the beginning and it is my job as an audiologist to provide information and my professional advice. The goal is to help parents make the choices that are right for them and create positive outcomes for the child. It is necessary for parents to understand the benefit of amplification or intervention services so that everyone involved is working towards a common goal. Parents should also be knowledgeable of the services available to them and be prepared to advocate for their child. The school system provides supports for children with hearing loss and parents need to know how to obtain the services for their child. The audiologist can act as a resource for parents at any point as the child develops there will be new challenges. There is a partnership between the parent and the audiologist based on trust and a mutual understanding to provide the best care for the

questions 10-16 cover cochlear implants. This topic will be explored in depth in a future lesson.

Hence, the ASLI/TiE becomes more capable of providing the DHH student access to content at the same level as their hearing classmates (Colorado Department of Education, 2014). In all, we see the ASLI/TiEs as language models, facilitators of learning, and access to classroom interactions and content which preparation tools and strategies will enhance their abilities to maximize their role in student education.

In the article “Language acquisition for deaf children: Reducing the harms of zero tolerance to the use of alternative approaches” the authors talked about children need regularly and meaningfully accessible to human language. Children that have not acquired a language in the early years might never speak fluently in any language. This critical period is for children to develop their first language skills. Most children that are born deaf in the developed countries have cochlear devices implanted, but these devices do not offer accessible language to many deaf children. This device might cause the child to miss the critical period that is needed for children.

In the same way that no two individuals are alike, nor are any two families with deaf or hard of hearing members. Due to the various ways that hearing loss can occur, the occurrence of hearing loss in any one family can vary. There are families with deaf parents and hearing children. There are families with deaf parents and deaf children. There are families who have never encountered a deaf or hearing impaired person that suddenly have a child who is deaf or hard of hearing. Hearing impairment affects different families in different ways. Many believe that families where both parents and the children are deaf or hard of hearing have an advantage, because the parents are already a part of the deaf culture and thus their children are born into the community. Meanwhile, hearing parents who birth a deaf or hearing impaired child have to adjust to a new way of relating to and communicating with not only their child, but also with those involved in the rearing of that child. Fortunately for these parents, organizations like the Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing exist to provide these families with resources, funds, and education to help them tread on unfamiliar territory. These kinds of organizations connect all families who have members with the disability, and no matter the family dynamic, there are resources for them to take advantage of, including legal aid. As seen in the short clip from the Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, early childhood, around the time of

My essay topic is the language development of deaf infants and children. In my opinion, this is an important topic to discuss, due to the lack of public knowledge concerning the deaf population. Through this essay, I wish to present how a child is diagnosed as having a hearing loss (including early warning signs), options that parents have for their children once diagnosed (specifically in relation to education of language), common speech teaching methods used today, typical language development for these children, and some emotional, social, and mental difficulties faced by the deaf child and the child’s family that have an immense effect on the child’s education.

In America, English exists as the standard language. For that reason, it is understood that children will learn this as their primary language. However, according to the “National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders” website, “about two to three children per 1,000 are born deaf or hard of hearing”(Quick Statistics [NIDCD Health Information]) . Moreover, an article by Karen Kalivoda points out that “depending on the age of onset and the severity of the hearing loss, an individual's spoken language development may be radically affected”. Babies learn to speak by parroting the sounds around them; however, a deaf child does not hear these noises and, therefore, the child does not “develop their language” skills