Hesperian Health Guides
Deaf children need help early
HealthWiki > Helping Children Who Are Deaf > Chapter 2: Children who cannot hear well need help early > Deaf children need help early
With help, children who cannot hear can communicate and learn language. Since babies start learning as soon as they are born, it is important that families begin giving extra attention to communication to help their deaf children as soon as possible. If children who cannot hear well have help to learn a language—and that language may be a sign language—they can understand and communicate with people around them. Then they can learn what other children usually learn by hearing.
If the child's hearing problem is noticed early and effective help is provided, the best years for learning language and communication skills (birth to age 7) will not be lost. See Chapter 7, Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 for more information about helping a child learn language.