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Introduction
Because of the rapid changes in the world of hearing loss, parents of children with a hearing loss need a reliable guide to maneuver through the technological and educational pitfalls. This book reflects the new reality facing parents today: early detection, sophisticated amplification whether by hearing aid or implant, and integrated school placement. Chapter 1 on the emotions of hearing loss and chapter 2 on the impact of hearing loss on the family are not much impacted by the new realities. The diagnosis of hearing loss will still have a profound emotional impact in most families and the entire family system will be affected. These chapters represent my forty years of working closely with families of newly diagnosed hearing-impaired children. While the technology has changed and the outlook for the child with a hearing loss is so much brighter, the impact that the diagnosis has on the emotional response and on many of the family dynamics has not changed. Since most hard-of-hearing children will currently be educated within an integrated school system, Chapter 3 provides information about the changes needed within the classroom to give a child with hearing loss maximum opportunity to succeed. Both school personnel and parents should be able to read this chapter with profit. It is written by Karen Anderson, PhD of the Florida Department of Health. Chapter 4 will provide you with information needed to negotiate the complex legislation supporting parental rights in the educational and diagnostic system. This chapter also provides information on resources. It is written by Cheryl DeConde Johnson, EdD, of the Colorado Department of Education. Chapter 5 on hearing aids and cochlear implants will provide you with up-to-date information on current amplification technology for the child. It is written by Linda Thibodeau, PhD of the University of Texas. With the advent of the new century, technology has created an axial change in education of the child with a hearing loss. Cochlear implants and neonatal screening have catapulted the child with a hearing loss into the auditory/verbal camp. The auditory-verbal approach teaches a child to use available aural information without encouraging a visual orientation. Children are taught to listen and in extreme instances are actively discouraged from “looking.” Because of both auditory-based therapy and the advancing technology, the difference between deaf and hard-of-hearing is rapidly blurring. Cochlear implants can now give many children (with a severe to profound loss) hearing that is in the mild to moderate category. Previously we could not help these children with amplification because their loss was too severe. Coupled with early detection these “implanted” children function as hard-of-hearing. It is rapidly becoming feasible that deafness in a child will, in most cases, be a function of the choice of the parents or of poor clinical management. We’re now able to detect hearing loss in infants at birth and provide sophisticated amplification in the form of digital hearing aids. If these are not sufficient then the child is fitted with a cochlear implant. The current service model in many communities bypasses segregated schools for children with hearing loss entirely. Referrals from diagnostic centers are increasing for auditory/verbal therapists working in early intervention centers. The ultimate goal is to mainstream hard-of-hearing children in regular public schools. Schools for children with hearing loss are becoming increasingly repositories for—
• the deaf child of deaf parents who choose not to implant their children; • the multiply handicapped; • and the disadvantaged child with a hearing loss.
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