About the Study
Through early diagnosis, appropriate listening aids, and timely
intervention, most children can acquire the spoken language skills they will
need to succeed later in school and participate fully in society. But
professionals disagree about what constitutes the "best" method of helping
children acquire spoken language. That's why the National Institutes of Health -
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIH-NIDCD) decided
to support research on outcomes for infants and toddlers diagnosed with
permanent hearing loss.
"Ongoing research needs to be conducted so that we can match the child to the methodology sooner. At the present time it is more trial and error." David Luterman November 16, 2004 The ASHA Leader |
Dr. Susan Nittrouer, herself the parent of a child with hearing loss, is overseeing a grant funded by the NIH-NIDCD to study outcomes. The grant is titled Early Development of Children with Hearing Loss (EDCHL). Her team is conducting research at sites throughout the United States, where more than 200 children between the ages of 1 and 4 years and their parents have been participating.