On-line study materials: Special Needs Education - Online

Terminology

an increase in the threshold of audibility caused by age, infirmity, or prolonged exposure to intense noise

A profoundly prelingually deaf individual is someone who was born with insufficient hearing to acquire speech normally, or who lost their hearing prior to the age at which the development of language is finished.
Prelingual deaf children born into signing families have no delay in language development and communication. Most pre-lingual hearing impairment is due to an acquired condition, usually either disease or trauma; therefore, families commonly have no prior knowledge of deafness.

hearing impairment occurring after speech and language skills have been developed

visually perceived language based on a naturally evolved system of articulated hand gestures and their placement relative to the body, along with non-manual markers such as facial expressions, head movements, shoulder raises, mouth morphemes, and movements of the body
mother tongue for those deaf children who are born in the Deaf families

an electronic device that amplifies sound used by people with impaired hearing
it consists of a microphone, a battery power supply, an amplifier, and a receiver.

an electronic device that stimulates auditory nerve fibers in the inner ear in individuals with severe or profound bilateral hearing loss, allowing them to recognize some sounds, especially speech sounds

the hearing that remains after a hearing loss occurs. Most people with significant hearing loss still have some residual hearing that can be stimulated by amplifying sound using a hearing aid

of, relating to, or involving the sensory nerves, especially as they affect the hearing

used to provide hearing ability for people in a variety of situations (a common usage is to aid people who are hard of hearing)
the ALD may be used to help people hear televisions and other audio devices and also to help people hear speech
usually used as a system where the audio source is broadcast wirelessly over an FM frequency

The rise of the Deaf Pride movement in the 1980s has introduced a distinction between deafand Deaf, with the capitalized form used specifically in referring to deaf persons belonging to the communityalso known as Deaf culturethat has formed around the use of American Sign Language as the preferred means of communication.
The issue of capitalization is different with deaf than it is for a term such as black. In the case of black, the decision whether or not to capitalize is essentially a matter of personal or political preference, while with deaf the capitalized and uncapitalized forms differ in meaning as well as style.
Only persons who are self-identified as belonging to Deaf culture are appropriately referred to as Deaf.