Hearing Impaired Infants

The tremendous amount of work that goes into the diagnosis and subsequent management of a young child with a permanent sensori-neural hearing loss involves both professionals from health and education services and parents. Though it is now widely accepted by professionals that parents should be regarded as full members of the team supporting the hearing-impaired child, many still do not have a clear idea of what this means in practice. The purpose of this book is to share information about this work among all those involved. Written by professionals who have long experience of working in real co-operation with parents and who allow the voice of parents to come through clearly, the book has two main aims. First, to convey in a clear and readable way what professionals do, the language they use, what influences their decision-making and some of the ramifications of hearing impairment; and, secondly, to convey to professionals what it is like to discover that your child has a hearing impairment and to show what professionals can learn from parents about the experience of living twenty-four hours a day with a child who does not hear well.