Preconditions of language development in deaf children

The harmful effects of childhood hearing impairment are given little though t by many people because hearing loss is largely an invisible handicap. An infant with a hearing impairment is generally healthy-looking and develops relatively normally during the first year of life. Hearing impairment in in fants interferes with the normal development of spoken language. We are bio logically programmed to develop certain skills in response to certain input s. Language learning is one such skill which must be gained very early in l ife. Hearing is the most important basis for normal language acquisition an d language is the keystone of modern society. Hearing loss must be identifi ed as early as possible in the first pears of life, especially a child with profound or severe hearing loss must be identified in the first year of li fe. If not, the child has missed an irreversible sensitive phase for learni ng of speech and language. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science Ireland L td. All rights reserved.