The efficacy of early identification and intervention for children with hearing impairment

The efficacy of early intervention has finally been demonstrated by new findings. Neurophysiologic and psycholinguistic research shows that the neural circuits of the child's brain are rewired by external stimulations very early in life, and if such stimulations are not received at that time, the circuits will not develop fully. The most sensitive time for such "wiring" in children with congenital hearing loss is now demonstrated to be before 6 months, according to investigations at the University of Colorado. These studies showed that no matter what the degree of hearing loss, deaf and hard-of-hearing children who are given intervention by 6 months will develop near-normal language skills, whereas those whose treatment is begun after 6 months will be significantly language-delayed. Identification at birth is requisite to implementing successful intervention by 6 months.