The award-winning book by Andrew Solomon, “Far From The Tree: Parents, Children And The Search For Identity” (November 2012), gives a very one-sided view of deafness, says US-based journalist Lisa A. Goldstein – who is deaf and verbal, with cochlear implants. Read Goldstein’s Critical Review: Far From The Truth Goldstein reminds us of the “anonymous
Turn off your smart-phone, TV and other devices – to talk with your baby. According to this online article in the New York Times (April 10th), the basis of early-learning is talking, and exposing a child to language, from birth. Read: The Power Of Talking To Your Baby Remember, infants with typical hearing are known
His profile reads “I am the happiest deaf teenager on Facebook”. UK-based Jamie Williams started writing a blog after a friend said how happy and content he is, even when he’s deaf. And his writing ability shows in the blog. Read: Deaf teenager’s blog takes Facebook by storm Jamie’s blog is “A Deaf Boy in
Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT) is a parent-centred approach to enabling children with deafness to learn to talk by listening with digital hearing-devices from infancy, where possible. The UK had 14 certified AVT therapists (in 2013), and on April 27th (2013) a free 2-hour information session on AVT was held in Belfast for parents of deaf children
Parents have a stronger role than researchers thought, in developing verbal language in children with hearing issues. A new study from the University of Miami shows “maternal sensitivity [has] strong and consistent effects on oral language learning”, a fact that hospital cochlear implant teams need to note. Read: Mom’s sensitivity helps language learning in deaf
A new book, “He Is Not Me”, by Stuart McNaughton, tells the story of being deaf from birth – and opting for a cochlear implant in his twenties. Notably, Stuart’s parents mainstream-educated him, to equip him with real-world skills from the very start – with the support of teachers and professionals. Read: He Is Not
With bilateral cochlear implants (both ears) in Ireland’s news recently, here’s some information that may answer readers’ and families’ questions. Read: Who is a cochlear implant candidate? Some unilateral (single-ear) implant-wearers keep a hearing-aid in the other ear, and can recognise speech by listening through two ears. Others choose to ‘go bilateral’ with 2 cochlear