Prelingual Deaf/Prelingual HOH

[Guest guest]

Hi ...

This information below will help you understand the differences between

Prelingual Deaf and Prelingual HOH. Read on ...

This from: http://www.stcsig.org/sn/PDF/malcolmbrief.pdf

(one does not have to be " born deaf " to be a prelingual. to be that,

one has to be deaf before learning the spoken language " )

Prelingual deafness is deafness which occurs before learning the

spoken language of one’s environment vs. postlingual.

Prelingual Deafness: a Definition

Prelingual Deafness, for the purposes of this discussion, means

deafness in persons whose onset was before they learned the language

of their environment. People generally learn their first language well

before age five, i.e., persons who were either deaf at birth

(congenital deafness) or who became deaf from disease or accident

(adventitious deafness) prior to developing the basics of the grammar

of the language of their environment.

Prelingual Deafness: Characteristics

People with normal hearing generally learn the language of their

environment, be it English, German or Chinese. Many researchers

believe that during the first several years of life, human brains are

open to original language learning. Later, this open period ends.

When this opportunity for learning is closed by deafness during this

critical period, language learning does not occur in the usual way.

Thus, when a person is prelingually deaf, they learn a spoken language

mainly through an artificial means, i.e., reading. Because print

does not convey as much language information that sound conveys,

prelingually deaf persons are deprived of auditory language input.

The result is diminished reading and writing skills. A few examples

follow to clarify this.

Prelingual Hard-of-Hearing: a Definition

Prelingual Hard-of-Hearing, for the purposes of this discussion, means

partial deafness in persons whose onset was before they learned the

language of their environment. People generally learn their first

language well before age five, i.e., persons who were either

hard-of-hearing at birth (congenital hard-of-hearing) or who became

hard-of-hearing from disease or accident prior to developing the

basics of the grammar of the language of their environment.

Prelingual Hard-of-Hearing: Characteristics

Thus, when a person is prelingually hard-ofhearing, they learn a spoken

language imperfectly. Because hard-of-hearing babies have partial

hearing, their impairment is often goes undetected for some time.

This is in contrast to deaf babies whose deafness is usually

recognized quickly.

Thus, when a person is prelingually hard-ofhearing, they learn the

spoken language of their environment imperfectly. They have the

Herculean task of learning their first language by combining

imperfectly heard sound with print and lip movements to assemble a

knowledge of a language.

JoLene

CII 3-13-02

Prelingual Deaf

---------------------------------

Photos

Ring in the New Year with Photo Calendars. Add photos, events, holidays,

whatever.