Case Study: Speech/Language Development of an Auditory-Verbal Deaf Child

Sara Ann, almost 2 years old, had in every way seemed to be developing normally, except that she was not talking. She had a 6-year-old sister, a pleasant, nondemanding child who also had not been very verbal as a toddler either. Even though the family was aware of the presence of the gene for Waardenburg Syndrome, there had never been a case of deafness in the family. And Sara Ann did appear to hear. She responded to a tuning fork in the doctor's office; she heard the lawn mower; and she knew when her father drove up in the car and would go running to meet him before he appeared at the door. The recognition of the presence of profound hearing loss came in dramatic fashion. While visiting another family, a large Labrador suddenly barked very loudly, startling everyone in the room, except Sara Ann, the person closest to the dog. Hearing tests revealed some good lowfrequency hearing, which quickly dropped off when charted on an audiogram. The mystery of her sometimes response to certain familiar sounds was a mystery no longer. SELECTING A COMMUNICATION METHOD