Necessity versus sufficiency: the role of input in language acquisition

There is data which indicates that the critical/sensitive period(s) for lan guage development begins in the 6th month of fetal life and may be most sus ceptible to impairment during the first 2 years of life. There are observat ions which would indicate that the linguistic abilities which develop are d ependent upon the amount of linguistic information available to the infant and are not dependent upon any particular receptive sensory mode. The chall enge for the cochlear implant is to be able to transmit sufficient linguist ic information-flux of information-during this period so that the resultant language is optimal. Language must be the primary outcome measure of the c ochlear implant in the infant and young child. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ir eland Ltd. All rights reserved.