In the article, the Canadian Paediatric Society said there is a comprehensive and linked system of screening, diagnosis and intervention needed along with a need for provinces to unite their efforts to create a national program. We agree with these comments and wish to take this a step further to emphasis the importance of access to language and language acquisition at an early age.

May 10, 2011

The Globe and Mail
444 Front St. West
Toronto, Ontario
M5V 259
Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir.

Dear Editor,

On behalf of The Canadian Hearing Society (CHS), I was pleased to read Andre Picard’s article on Doctors’ orders for developing minds: Test the hearing of newborns across Canada.

In the article, the Canadian Paediatric Society said there is a comprehensive and linked system of screening, diagnosis and intervention needed along with a need for provinces to unite their efforts to create a national program. We agree with these comments and wish to take this a step further to emphasis the importance of access to language and language acquisition at an early age.

Dr. Patel made a reference in the article that “early diagnosis of hearing loss is essential so that a child can acquire language skills – either spoken or American Sign Language (ASL)”. At CHS we share this view and it is our position that barriers that limit children’s access to language and language acquisition be removed.

It has been well-researched and documented that the ability to hear or not to hear is not at the crux of a child’s sociability, education, employability and intelligence. It is a child’s language proficiency that provides the door to ongoing success in education and the world generally. When a child arrives at school with age-appropriate language, whether signed or spoken, he or she already has one of the most important tools for success.

Publicly funded early intervention programs should not require families to choose between communication service options that may restrict children’s access to the bilingual or multi-lingual learning of signed and a spoken language. These infants and young children face a lack of public services that would enable them to access and acquire ASL or la langue des signes québécoise (LSQ).

In many contexts, children who receive cochlear implants and/or auditory-verbal (AVT) intervention services face restrictions on exposure to and acquisition of ASL or LSQ.

Access to language and language acquisition is a necessary prerequisite for the right to human dignity, freedom of expression, and all other human rights. Children with a hearing loss have the right to ASL and LSQ in addition to spoken/written English and/or French.

If hearing loss and technology do not allow a child to acquire spoken language – sometimes not entirely known until critical time has passed –  and as there are no barriers to signed languages, the signed language can stimulate the language centre of the brain providing the child with language so that those critical years are not missed.  

As we continue to support early infant screening from a provincial and national level we need to ensure parents are well equipped with the knowledge of viable access to language and language acquisition for their children.

Sincerely,
Chris Kenopic
President and CEO
The Canadian Hearing Society