Approximately 3 in 1,000 babies are born with permanent hearing loss (Ross et al., 2008)

Most children with hearing loss who receive appropriate services from trained staff are able to progress at age-appropriate rates. (Geers et al., 2009)

Left undetected, mild or unilateral hearing loss can result in delayed speech and language acquisition, social-emotional or behavioral problems, and lags in academic achievement. (Yoshinage-Itano et al., 1998; Bess, 1985: Bess et al., 1988)

Children who receive cochlear implants in the second year of life attain better speech perception and language development outcomes than later implantation.  Children implanted between 12-24 months show similar language skills as typical peers on some language measures administered at age 6. (Svirsky et al., 2004)

Fitting of personal amplification in an infant or young child is an on-going process.  Minimally, an audiologist should see the child every three months during the first two years of using amplification and every 4-6 months after that time.  (The Pediatric Working Group, 1996)

ASL (American Sign Language) is a fully functional language that has specific rules, syntax, and grammar.  It directly relates gestures and concepts.

Parents are often the source of a child’s early acquisition of language, but for children who are deaf, additional people may be models for language acquisition. (NID)

There is no research evidence that learning sign interferes with deaf children’s spoken language development.  On the contrary, it may assist children to learn difficult to understand concepts and act as a bridge to learning these words in spoken language.  (DCAL)

Visual communication is important for deaf children regardless of whatever type of communication methods parents decide on.  (Livestrong.com)