Overview of Family-Centered Early Intervention for Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in Hungary

Abstract

Abstract

Background and goals: Early intervention for deaf children is done with an evidence-based, decades old approach, natural auditory verbal therapy. Its development and practical application were enabled by scientific and technological progress.

Method: We provide a narrative overview about early intervention for deaf and hard of hearing children, to illustrate the development the disciple’s best practices, professional principles and methodologies took to reach their current state.

Results: Research proved that the linguistic development of deaf children correlates significantly with the parents' involvement in the therapeutic process, their active participation, and the aspect of timely intervention, i.e., identifying hearing impairment as early as possible (Moeller, 2000; Sharma et al., 2002). Deaf and hard of hearing children form a heterogeneous group, but a therapeutic approach which considers their unique needs, provides optimal hearing correction and opens new perspectives in several aspects of their lives is available for all of them.

Keywords: early intervention, natural auditory verbal therapy, parents’ involvement, strategies supporting linguistic development