Young children learn language most efficiently through consistent and continual meaningful interactionsin a supportive environment with their caregivers. The hearing impaired child demonstrates a pattern of speech and language behaviour which essentially follows that of the hearing childi.e. There is considerable evidence that hearing impaired children can and do follow the language acquisition stages for normal-hearingchildren. The overall thrust of the parents and of the intervention program is to acknowledge and cope with the differences related to the hearing loss while attempting to put them into perspective in a scene where most other aspects of interacting with their child will be normal. The communication and social domains are likely to be affected most by the presence of and access to normally developing peers.
Every child is part of a family system.
Events within and outside the family can affectthe success of early intervention.