New GAO Study

rick48

rick48

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See much hasn't changed here in the past few months. The same old cochlear implant haters posting the same old anti-ci BS!. Makes one wonder why these people who do not have cochlear implants for themselves or who denied them to their children spend so much of their time and energy on a cochlear implant site trying to convince others they are right?

Anyway for those who might be interested, here's an excerpt from a recent GAO study (pages 13 & 14):

The benefits of early language exposure are not tied to any one language
or communication mode. Experts we interviewed agreed that early
exposure aids deaf and hard of hearing children in the acquisition of
language skills, whether the language is signed or spoken. A study
focusing on children with cochlear implants found that those who
received an implant before 2 ½ years of age developed speech more
rapidly and had better pronunciation and vocabulary than children who
received an implant at an older age. 32

Similarly, research indicates that children exposed to sign language early and consistently develop larger vocabularies more quickly than those who are not.
33

32 Carol McDonald Connor, Holly K. Craig, Krista Heavner, Stephen W. Raudenbush, and Teresa A. Zwolan, “The Age at Which Young Deaf Children Receive Cochlear Implants and Their Vocabulary and Speech-Production Growth: Is There an Added Value for Early Implantation?” Ear and Hearing, vol. 27, no. 6 (2006).
33 Amy R. Lederberg and Patricia E. Spencer, “Word-Learning Abilities in Deaf and Hard-ofHearing Preschoolers: Effect of Lexicon Size and Language Modality,” Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, vol. 14, no. 1 (2009).


The full report can be found at:
U.S. GAO - Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children: Federal Support for Developing Language and Literacy U.S. Government Accountability Office (U.S. GAO)

As many of us have repeatedly said, there is no one, or best way, to raise a deaf child but that early language exposure is the one constant regardless of whatever communication mode is chosen.

Take care,
Rick
 
This in particular, in interestiing, and can be found on the 1st page of the document:

Limited information and resources are challenges to providing deaf and hard of hearing children with appropriate interventions. Experts indicated that parents may not always receive information on the full range of communication options available, and may not understand the importance of enrolling their children in early intervention services. Additionally, a lack of data can limit efforts to evaluate early intervention outcomes. The EHDI law calls for CDC and the Health Resources and Services Administration in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to support states in the evaluation of early intervention efforts—programs that are, in part, provided under IDEA. These agencies suggested that privacy requirements may restrict the information that EHDI and early intervention programs can share, limiting efforts to evaluate outcomes for children. However, HHS and Education are taking a number of steps to identify best practices for sharing data and tracking the outcomes of deaf and hard of hearing children who receive early intervention services. Experts also cited a shortage of qualified teachers and interpreters as a major challenge. Moreover, providing services for these students can be costly and it is difficult for schools to provide a variety of options, especially in rural areas.

Experts we spoke with stated that it is important to expose deaf and hard of hearing children to language as early as possible in life. They told us that the first few years of a child’s life are the most critical for learning language because it is during this time when the brain is rapidly developing that it is easiest to learn language. Several educators we spoke with shared stories of deaf children who did not receive services until later in childhood and subsequently lagged behind. Officials at one school also said that the .age at which children are first exposed to language is a good predictor of their future language skills Research into language development bears this out. One study examining children with moderate to profound hearing loss compared those who were exposed to language through an early intervention program before they were 3 months of age with those who enrolled later. The study found that by the time these children were 12 to 16 months old, those who started earlier were already demonstrating more advanced language skills.31
The benefits of early language exposure are not tied to any one language or communication mode. Experts we interviewed agreed that early exposure aids deaf and hard of hearing children in the acquisition of language skills, whether the language is signed or spoken.

Hmmm...note the use of "language".
 
A study focusing on children with cochlear implants found that those who received an implant before 2 ½ years of age developed speech more rapidly and had better pronunciation and vocabulary than children who received an implant at an older age.
Click to expand...

This is quite true given that proper support is given by parents, educators and such. I've seen it and can can distinctly tell the differences hearing them speak. If you haven't met with kids who have gotten CI very early on having conversations with the next best thing is to check out the many YouTube videos of them speaking and listening and responding (without even looking up, too!). Early and proper intervention has always been the key here. Always.
 
Please download and read all 31 pages of this report. It is the only way to properly interpret the results of the study. This study actually belongs in the Deaf Ed thread, as the purpose of the study is:

To better understand how federal programs support deaf and hard of hearing children, GAO was asked to examine the: (1) extent of hearing loss among children, (2) settings in which these children are educated, (3) factors that help deaf and hard of hearing children acquire language and literacy skills, and (4) challenges to providing appropriate interventions for these children.

Really doesn't have anything to do with HA or CI, but more about how IDEA funds are being spent to serve deaf kids. One number that I found particularly interesting is that 52% of all deaf children are educated in an oral only environment. I wonder how this relates to the literacy numbers?
 
Limited information and resources are challenges to providing deaf and hard of hearing children with appropriate interventions. Experts indicated that parents may not always receive information on the full range of communication options available, and may not understand the importance of enrolling their children in early intervention services
Click to expand...
Exactly!!! Like the people giving the info may not tell the parents that it's very child dependent and what works for one kid, may not work for anotehr kid.
 
Well, I sometimes wonder... I know a number of ASL users may be less and less but there will be "battle" between oralists vs oralists in future? I thought it must be interesting how time goes...
 
I read another forum about similar this one. A child received a CI when he was 3 years old. He turned 5 and developed his reading and writing pretty good which are standard. His parents wanted him to learn oral so he did. When he was about 12 years old, he started having a problem with a little advanced in reading & writing at a hearing school. His several grades were failing so badly. His parents decided to send him to a deaf school. He was happy to use his ASL and improved a lot in reading and writing awhile he socialized with the deaf students.

I think that ASL is important. I was told that any child should have started in ASL as a primary language in much younger age. Later, the child would able to learn oral. I don't know what is the best age for a kid to start in oral. That's something new to me.
 
Wirelessly posted

webexplorer said:
I read another forum about similar this one. A child received a CI when he was 3 years old. He turned 5 and developed his reading and writing pretty good which are standard. His parents wanted him to learn oral so he did. When he was about 12 years old, he started having a problem with a little advanced in reading & writing at a hearing school. His several grades were failing so badly. His parents decided to send him to a deaf school. He was happy to use his ASL and improved a lot in reading and writing awhile he socialized with the deaf students.

I think that ASL is important. I was told that any child should have started in ASL as a primary language in much younger age. Later, the child would able to learn oral. I don't know what is the best age for a kid to start in oral. That's something new to me.
Click to expand...

I didn't speak until age of six or seven.
 
webexplorer said:
I read another forum about similar this one. A child received a CI when he was 3 years old. He turned 5 and developed his reading and writing pretty good which are standard. His parents wanted him to learn oral so he did. When he was about 12 years old, he started having a problem with a little advanced in reading & writing at a hearing school. His several grades were failing so badly. His parents decided to send him to a deaf school. He was happy to use his ASL and improved a lot in reading and writing awhile he socialized with the deaf students.

I think that ASL is important. I was told that any child should have started in ASL as a primary language in much younger age. Later, the child would able to learn oral. I don't know what is the best age for a kid to start in oral. That's something new to me.
Click to expand...

That is exactly what I see year after year and recently we just got an influx of kids in that age range being referred to our program after falling behind during 3rd to 6th grades. They come with little self-esteem or no motivation. Nobody has NO idea how hard it is to get these kids back on track. They think once they learn ASL, the problem is solved. Easier said than done but it has happened. However, the children didnt deserve to be put in that position for the sake of being "hearing".
 
shel90 said:
That is exactly what I see year after year and recently we just got an influx of kids in that age range being referred to our program after falling behind during 3rd to 6th grades. They come with little self-esteem or no motivation. Nobody has NO idea how hard it is to get these kids back on track. They think once they learn ASL, the problem is solved. Easier said than done but it has happened. However, the children didnt deserve to be put in that position for the sake of being "hearing".
Click to expand...

Interesting. All I have to go by are the comments of those who support putting implants in very young children, that they can enunciate and pronounce words "better" than those without CI's. Not once do they say anything about their critical thinking or logic skills. Heck, they sound like they are bragging about monkeys speaking.
 
Beowulf said:
Interesting. All I have to go by are the comments of those who support putting implants in very young children, that they can enunciate and pronounce words "better" than those without CI's. Not once do they say anything about their critical thinking or logic skills. Heck, they sound like they are bragging about monkeys speaking.
Click to expand...

I think it is the same with hearing aid users....some speak well, some dont. Same with children with CIs. No difference.
 
shel90 said:
That is exactly what I see year after year and recently we just got an influx of kids in that age range being referred to our program after falling behind during 3rd to 6th grades. They come with little self-esteem or no motivation. Nobody has NO idea how hard it is to get these kids back on track. They think once they learn ASL, the problem is solved. Easier said than done but it has happened. However, the children didnt deserve to be put in that position for the sake of being "hearing".
Click to expand...

I thought of you when I read the other post, and knew this would be your response because this is exactly what you've seen in your classrooms.
 
kokonut said:
This is quite true given that proper support is given by parents, educators and such. I've seen it and can can distinctly tell the differences hearing them speak. If you haven't met with kids who have gotten CI very early on having conversations with the next best thing is to check out the many YouTube videos of them speaking and listening and responding (without even looking up, too!). Early and proper intervention has always been the key here. Always.
Click to expand...

:lol:
I bet if you listened to children with hearing aids and children with CI's, you couldn't tell the difference.
You are always transparent. Always.
 
souggy said:
Wirelessly posted



I didn't speak until age of six or seven.
Click to expand...

We also need to keep in mind that those early gains seen level way off by the time the child reaches adolescence. They then begin to lag behind.
 
Wirelessly posted

jillio said:
souggy said:
I didn't speak until age of six or seven.
Click to expand...





We also need to keep in mind that those early gains seen level way off by the time the child reaches adolescence. They then begin to lag behind.
Click to expand...

My bad, seven or eight. I didn't get hearing aids until six or seven. Was exposed to ASL from birth, not because I was deaf but because the doctors thought I was autistic-- a common misdiagnoses with deaf children with vision loss.
 
Last edited:
recently we just got an influx of kids in that age range being referred to our program after falling behind during 3rd to 6th grades. They come with little self-esteem or no motivation. Nobody has NO idea how hard it is to get these kids back on track. They think once they learn ASL, the problem is solved. Easier said than done but it has happened. However, the children didnt deserve to be put in that position for the sake of being "hearing".
Click to expand...
Are they oral kids? I wonder if this is why Clarke's on campus program is dying. I know back in the old days, oral kids who struggled orally were sent to Clarke dorms......it sucks they had to suffer by falling behind, but on the other hand, it's AWESOME that they ended up at Deaf School where they can learn ASL and develop good healthy self esteem.
Heck, maybe a good idea might be to hire jillo to counsel those kids.
And speaking of which, jillo that does not surprise me that a LOT of "oral sucesses" start having issues in the mainstream around fourth grade and up.
And isn't it ironic that the oral schools end their programs just when kids start having issues?
 
Well Rick myself as a Deaf person I chose what I believe in. Why do I need cochlear implant to help me listen? If we already have our valuable language that has started by Laurent Clerc. Cochlear implant was invented by a person who doesn't believe in Deaf culture and think that it will help us to hear better. Guess what I don't think so because all they want is money to help "cure" our hearing loss. We the anti-ci is not necessarily hating on CI. We hate on how they thinks that it will help decrease the Deaf community by learning how to speak and hear. Attitude is the main reason why we don't cooperate and we are proud for who we are. We don't deal with people like you who try to "change the world" in Deaf community.



rick48 said:
See much hasn't changed here in the past few months. The same old cochlear implant haters posting the same old anti-ci BS!. Makes one wonder why these people who do not have cochlear implants for themselves or who denied them to their children spend so much of their time and energy on a cochlear implant site trying to convince others they are right?

Anyway for those who might be interested, here's an excerpt from a recent GAO study (pages 13 & 14):

The benefits of early language exposure are not tied to any one language
or communication mode. Experts we interviewed agreed that early
exposure aids deaf and hard of hearing children in the acquisition of
language skills, whether the language is signed or spoken. A study
focusing on children with cochlear implants found that those who
received an implant before 2 ½ years of age developed speech more
rapidly and had better pronunciation and vocabulary than children who
received an implant at an older age. 32

Similarly, research indicates that children exposed to sign language early and consistently develop larger vocabularies more quickly than those who are not.
33

32 Carol McDonald Connor, Holly K. Craig, Krista Heavner, Stephen W. Raudenbush, and Teresa A. Zwolan, “The Age at Which Young Deaf Children Receive Cochlear Implants and Their Vocabulary and Speech-Production Growth: Is There an Added Value for Early Implantation?” Ear and Hearing, vol. 27, no. 6 (2006).
33 Amy R. Lederberg and Patricia E. Spencer, “Word-Learning Abilities in Deaf and Hard-ofHearing Preschoolers: Effect of Lexicon Size and Language Modality,” Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, vol. 14, no. 1 (2009).


The full report can be found at:
U.S. GAO - Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children: Federal Support for Developing Language and Literacy U.S. Government Accountability Office (U.S. GAO)

As many of us have repeatedly said, there is no one, or best way, to raise a deaf child but that early language exposure is the one constant regardless of whatever communication mode is chosen.

Take care,
Rick
Click to expand...
 
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