Issues Involving Deaf & Hard of Hearing Children

[Article: Introduction | Discussion ]

(The original information in this page was excerpted and adapted from "The Invisible Disability" (http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=67188) by Richard Wassell. The Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC) (http://www.ridbc.org.au) is Australia's premier provider of educational services to children with hearing and/or vision impairment.More information about the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children can be found at http://www.ridbc.org.au)

Finding out your beautiful daughter or son is deaf or hard of hearing is said to be like planning a trip to Italy, only to arrive in Holland (http://www.our-kids.org/Archives/Holland.html). While the trip is still beautiful and unique, it brings challenges that most parents will never have considered.

Because hearing impairment isn't immediately visible, most people don't understand how serious the consequences can be, especially for children.

Without adequate hearing the normal process of acquiring language will be seriously affected. If children don't have language, they don't have access to education. And without education, their opportunities in life are greatly curtailed.

Cochlear implants and advanced hearing aid technology have made a huge difference to outcomes for deaf children in only a few years. Now, some children with impaired hearing have a much better chance of learning to listen and speak well enough to complete their education alongside their hearing peers, and communicate with people around them. But the assistance provided by technology is often misunderstood - some people believe that a cochlear implant will miraculously cure hearing, like glasses can fix eyesight.However, even a child with a moderate hearing loss, or with a corrected hearing loss equivalent to a moderate loss, will still have difficulties acquiring spoken language naturally. Most deaf and hearing impaired children will require active language learning opportunities to increase their vocabularies and to increase their language development, regardless of chosen communication method (http://www.deafhub.com/infohub/spokes/communication/).

Some of the questions about difficulties and issues of raising deaf children that parents ask include:

How will we communicate at home?
How will the child communicate with other people?
Where will we choose to educate the Deaf child?
What audiology needs does the child have? Are hearing aids appropriate, and is a cochlear implant right for my child?
Will the child need speech therapy?
What will the social needs of the Deaf child be - do they need contact with other Deaf children, and how will they interact with hearing children?

Among the biggest challenges facing a child who is deaf is access to appropriate education opportunities (http://www.deafhub.com/infohub/spokes/education/).

(The Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children provides services for children with sensory disabilities, from just a few months old, until the end of secondary school.

You can help by donating to this important work. In Australia, your donation will be tax deductible and your name and address details will be kept fully confidential.)

Contents

1 Organisations that support Deaf children

2 Related Spokes