Prelingual and Postlingual Hearing Loss

Prelingual hearing loss occurs before a child develops spoken language. It may be present at birth or occur in early childhood. Causes may be difficult to determine. There are more than 200 genetic causes of congenital hearing loss (present at birth) but most deaf and hard of hearing students report that the cause of their hearing loss is unknown. (Heward et al., 2017, p. 300). Hearing plays a huge role in the way children develop language, therefore young children with hearing loss will not spontaneously learn to communicate, like hearing children do. This will pose a challenge in not only teaching children communication skills, but also in teaching reading and writing. Early identification of children with hearing loss is of the utmost importance. A hearing screening should be performed at the one-month check-up, with a goal to have infants with hearing loss diagnosed by 3 months and enrolled in early intervention programs by 6 months of age (Heward, et al., 2017, p.302).

Postlingual hearing loss occurs after a person has already developed spoken language. The causes can be recurrent middle ear infections, meningitis, Ménière's disease or noise exposure. (Heward et al., 2017 p. 301) Teaching students with postlingual hearing loss will include a focus on maintaining the language skills the student already has and building upon that foundation.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) lists the following signs of hearing loss in children (2015):  

• Lack of attention to sounds (birth-1 year)
• Does not respond when you call his/her name (7 months-1 year)
• Does not follow simple directions (1-2 years)
• Shows delays in speech and language development (birth-3 years)
• Pulls or scratches at his/her ears
• Difficulty achieving academically, especially in reading and math
• Socially isolated and unhappy in school
• Persistent ear discomfort after exposure to loud noise (regular and constant listening to electronics at high volumes)

If you suspect hearing loss, your child should see an audiologist (hearing specialist) as soon as possible so that appropriate interventions can be started. You can visit ASHA's website for help knowing the signs of communication disorders at identifythesigns.org.  

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