Why technology is not enough
Meeting the needs of a new generation of children who are deaf by Christine Soland, CCC-SLP/A

Technology has absolutely changed the future for children with deafness. In Oregon, we now have Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS). Because of technology, babies have hearing losses detected before three months of age. Because of technology, babies who are deaf have the potential to receive cochlear
implants before one year of age. These Oregon UNHS babies represent a new generation of children with deafness.

Today there is a vision of hope that has never been possible for Oregon babies born with deafness. Before cochlear implants only about 20% of these children attained intelligible speech. Now, when these babies receive implants before eighteen months of age, about 90% of them can attain intelligible speech. If they get implants between two and four years old, about 80% of them can attain intelligible speech. UNHS and cochlear implant technology are making these differences happen!

But technology isn’t enough. Why not?

• Hearing starts at twenty weeks before birth. This means that, when children with deafness come into this world, they have already lost several valuable weeks of listening. Normally-hearing infants spend the fi rst six months of life learning to discriminate speech sounds. By the time they are nine to twelve months old, the neural networks of their brains have reorganized themselves for tuning into their mother tongue. Their chronological age and their “hearing age” are developing in synchrony. However, children with deafness do not have access to these speech sounds until they are fi tted with appropriate hearing technology. When their brains begin to access speech, intensive early intervention is needed to help them and their families close the gap between their chronological
age and hearing age.

• Babies need pediatric audiologists knowledgeable in mapping (programming) their cochlear implants appropriately. Ongoing audiological care is critical to the early intervention process.

• There is a lot for parents to learn. Families need support for ensuring that their young children wear the implants all day everyday. Highly-qualifi ed hearing specialists coach parents on using the implants for listening, spoken language and literacy enrichment.

• There are “prime times” for brain development. Parents need instruction on how to provide a stimulating auditory environment in their homes during these prime times. Hearing specialists help parents integrate listening into every aspect of daily interactions with their children. Then these children learn to master auditory skills on a time line that is as close as it can be to that of hearing
peers.

Tucker-Maxon is ready to meet the future. Our highly-qualified staff has the expertise to serve this new generation of children with deafness. We embrace the technologies that have the potential to change their lives. Our job is clear: to prepare this new generation to be the best adults they can be in the world of 2027, 2037 and 2047. Bring on the future. The best is yet to come!

This article is from the Fall 2007 issue of Now You're Talking.