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1. INTRODUCTION TO HEARING IMPAIRMENT Early support of children with hearing impairment influences their development and future success in many areas of life. Children learn language naturally and at the age of four or five they know the basic structure of their language and are able to formulate their thoughts. Cognitive, emotional and social development is connected closely. The connection between language and cognitive development is very strong. Language is a tool, which is needed for knowledge acquisition about the world, it serves as a tool to gain new information. Language abilities in a pre-school age, therefore, correlate with many areas of school achievement. Language is also very important in a process of socialisation. Later disabilities in learning and behaviour are often connected with problems in early language development. Students with hearing impairments have difficulty with development of speech and language skills. These students develop speech at a slower pace and are at greater risk for emotional difficulties and isolation from peers and family. In schools an oral/spoken language approach is followed or language/visual communication. Many students with hearing impairment may have difficulty with educational achievement and success in an educational systems that depends primarily on spoken words and written language. Students can thus have a low achievement characteristic and/or reading performance. Difficulties with social development may also occur. Oral language acquisition is extremely slow and difficult process for people with hearing impairments. Mastering oral speech is limited and it can be learned only with continual and intensive training. Therefore, many people who are deaf prefer to use their own communication system, which is called a Sign language. The way through which deaf students develop their language and communication is by learning visually. IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act) defines deafness as "a hearing impairment which is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, which adversely affects educational performance". When a student is hard of hearing their audition is limited, but their hearing remains partially functional. These students are able to use apparatus that can enhance their residual hearing with the support of hearing aids, which helps them to process sounds including human speech. |