Chicago-based ENT surgeon, Dana Suskind, who oversees pediatric cochlear implants, is researching a thirty-million-word gap she sees among implanted children from lower socio-economic backgrounds. By age 3, these children hear 30 million fewer words than peers from more affluent backgrounds.
With babies known to hear in the womb before birth, Suskind has a point.
Read more: Remarkable Woman: Dana Suskind
Suskind created a Language Environment Analysis (LENA) device to record up to 16 hours of the daily words spoken to a child, sounds made by the child, verbal interaction and a number of other sounds, such as television.
Read more: Closing The 30 Million Word Gap
Notes Suskind, “All parents should be allowed to know the power they have [to teach speech]. If we can change how parents view their language and the power they have to impact their kids’ trajectories, it will be amazing.”
More Reading
- One Language May Be Best For Kids With Implants
- After A Cochlear Implant – The Real Work Begins
- The Sky’s The Limit – When Parents Are Informed
- Deaf Children ‘Can Learn Their Family Language’
- Two Talented Boys, Living Life To The Full
- Being Born Deaf Is No Barrier – One Mum’s View
- How Families Can Accept Hearing Technology
- Bilateral Implant Wait List Concerns Irish Parents
