All parents usually have big dreams for their children. Even before they are born, they already have good plans for them and a high interest in their getting a bright future. This is why it is always very difficult to find out your child has some form of disability, both in terms of learning as well as physiologically. What do you do if you detect a hearing problem in your baby, and it turns out he has impaired hearing? Will life never be normal for your child? Will he always need special education classes or the horror stories you may have heard of these special-needs children never growing up socially active in mainstream circles? Or can you do something to help him be incorporated into mainstream learning at some time or another?
As a parent of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing, you need to know your options in helping your child adjust to the world. Thankfully, these recent years have made it easier and highly possible to accomplish this, as long as you know the best options and your important role in providing consistent support. The main options that you have are listed below:
1. Deaf education and auditory-verbal therapy is usually the firs preferred mode of communication chosen by families. This principle believes that most children who are hard of hearing or are deaf can be taught to speak and listen. This usually makes use of early intervention, early amplification, and consistent training in order to develop hearing potential. This will include using a hearing aid as early as possible, as hearing will influence speech development. Consulting a doctor as early as possible will be crucial for this kind of early intervention. This is why most pediatricians will advise parents to take note of any possible lag in a child’s developing speech in order to pinpoint possible auditory problems at an early age.
2. The second option that most deaf children learn quickly is sign language. American Sign Language (ASL) is world-recognized as a language all its own, without needing to follow English grammatical rules. It makes use of hand gestures, signs, and facial expressions in order to communicate. For deaf children, ASL can be taught as his first language, with English being the second language. Studies show that even babies, both hearing and hard-of-hearing, can learn sign language very quickly. This is perhaps why children normally enjoy nursery rhymes with accompanying actions. This is also why many parents of hearing babies employ sign language in order to give the baby, who has yet to learn to talk, the ability to communicate while his speech development is still in the works.
3. The third, and seemingly most complicated form of communication for parents with deaf children is known as total communication or TC. This is a combination of auditory-oral training, the spoken first language, and signing exact English (SEE). This signing is a manual code which uses one-to-one correspondence with English words, encouraging easier assimilation into mainstream educational systems as the child develops a grasp of the English grammatical structure.
4. Lastly, oral deaf education is another option. This is a combination of technology and therapies that does not depend on sign language, total communication, or even speech reading, but focuses instead on receptive and expressive language. This trains children in auditory oral techniques, and make use of what hearing they have left amplified by hearing aids or cochlear implants to improve their hearing and speech development. This allows children to be engaged in the world of sound through their parents, family, teachers and friends, which can set communication patterns for the child. Soon, he will learn to listen and eventually speak out sounds and further down the road, intelligible language. He soon makes the link between sound and meaning.
Here you can see that while learning that your child has hearing difficulties initially makes you feel like your world is over, all is not lost. The continued rise in technology these recent years has made it even easier to incorporate deaf children into the mainstream communication world, which not only helps them adjust but gives them a dose of self-esteem and confidence that they normally would not possess. Your role as a supportive parent can never be undermined, and know that with your love and help, your child can grow up confident and incorporated into a normal life as much as possible.
As a parent of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing, you need to know your options in helping your child adjust to the world. Thankfully, these recent years have made it easier and highly possible to accomplish this, as long as you know the best options and your important role in providing consistent support. The main options that you have are listed below:
1. Deaf education and auditory-verbal therapy is usually the firs preferred mode of communication chosen by families. This principle believes that most children who are hard of hearing or are deaf can be taught to speak and listen. This usually makes use of early intervention, early amplification, and consistent training in order to develop hearing potential. This will include using a hearing aid as early as possible, as hearing will influence speech development. Consulting a doctor as early as possible will be crucial for this kind of early intervention. This is why most pediatricians will advise parents to take note of any possible lag in a child’s developing speech in order to pinpoint possible auditory problems at an early age.
2. The second option that most deaf children learn quickly is sign language. American Sign Language (ASL) is world-recognized as a language all its own, without needing to follow English grammatical rules. It makes use of hand gestures, signs, and facial expressions in order to communicate. For deaf children, ASL can be taught as his first language, with English being the second language. Studies show that even babies, both hearing and hard-of-hearing, can learn sign language very quickly. This is perhaps why children normally enjoy nursery rhymes with accompanying actions. This is also why many parents of hearing babies employ sign language in order to give the baby, who has yet to learn to talk, the ability to communicate while his speech development is still in the works.
3. The third, and seemingly most complicated form of communication for parents with deaf children is known as total communication or TC. This is a combination of auditory-oral training, the spoken first language, and signing exact English (SEE). This signing is a manual code which uses one-to-one correspondence with English words, encouraging easier assimilation into mainstream educational systems as the child develops a grasp of the English grammatical structure.
4. Lastly, oral deaf education is another option. This is a combination of technology and therapies that does not depend on sign language, total communication, or even speech reading, but focuses instead on receptive and expressive language. This trains children in auditory oral techniques, and make use of what hearing they have left amplified by hearing aids or cochlear implants to improve their hearing and speech development. This allows children to be engaged in the world of sound through their parents, family, teachers and friends, which can set communication patterns for the child. Soon, he will learn to listen and eventually speak out sounds and further down the road, intelligible language. He soon makes the link between sound and meaning.
Here you can see that while learning that your child has hearing difficulties initially makes you feel like your world is over, all is not lost. The continued rise in technology these recent years has made it even easier to incorporate deaf children into the mainstream communication world, which not only helps them adjust but gives them a dose of self-esteem and confidence that they normally would not possess. Your role as a supportive parent can never be undermined, and know that with your love and help, your child can grow up confident and incorporated into a normal life as much as possible.
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