BEGINNING WITH BABIES - A SHARING OF PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE - INTRODUCTION

No one disputes that infancy is the optimal time of life for starting the process of dealing with hearing loss. And no one disputes that we, as professionals, need to keep updating our knowledge base through a variety of ways of sharing experience. The sharing can be done informa lly and formally, through talking, reading, and writing, at conference s and through university courses. We see this monograph as a part of t hat process. It is also one of a series of Volta Review monographs whi ch address the needs of professionals working with parents and which a re of interest to the parents as well. Earlier Volta Review monographs dealing with this topic were published in 1979 and 1987. It was our i ntent to put together a monograph which would focus principally on pra ctical knowledge. We asked authors to write from a personal perspectiv e and to keep the text fairly free of references so that it would be e asy to read. We invited contributions from several different countries and cultures and often asked for descriptions of only particular aspe cts of a program. The monograph is divided into four sections: Audiolo gical Concerns, Parent Guidance Programs, Legal Guarantees for Early I ntervention, and Multi-Cultural Considerations. Each will be described in turn.