Worldwide, 15 million babies are "born too soon" every year (Blencowe et al., 2012; Howson et al., 2013). Remarkably, prematurity survival rates now exceed 93% across all countries. More than 360,000 preterm babies survived in the United States in 2020; 10% of all births (Blencowe et al., 2012; Howson et al., 2013). While this is an…

A study examined the global language growth rate of 40 children with hearing loss (hearing aid and cochlear implant users) who received intensive auditory-verbal intervention for 1-4 years. Results found these children essentially attained linguistic competency at levels commensurate with peers who had normal hearing. (Contains references.)…

The speech and language developmental progress of children with hearing loss educated using an Auditory-Verbal approach was compared to that of a control group of children with normal hearing. The experimental group consisted of 29 children ages 2-6 years with a mean pure tone average in the better ear of 76.17 dB HL at 0.5, 1 and 2 kHz. The 29…

Examined are aspects of speech training that are crucial to attainment of understandable speech by the congenitally deaf, and the optimum time for auditory training. (Author/MC)

A case study is presented of a girl with a hearing impairment for whom extensive, corroborative hearing testing delayed the start of intervention. This contributed to speech, language, listening, and behavioral problems and prolonged her parents' denial of the hearing loss. Remediation began after starting aural habilitation based on limited,…

This discussion of speech development in infants and toddlers with hearing impairments considers selection and ordering of speech targets; the place of audition in speech teaching; and teaching methods for specific speech elements. Guidelines include helping caregivers internalize strategies to help the child use residual hearing and utilizing an…