He now learns the written form of the language. During this phase the emphasis is on the mastery of reading and writing. At the near end of this phase, an eight-year-old has a command of about 80% of the grammar and 17,000 words at their disposal.
Children with a hearing loss in one ear may fall behind their peers with normal hearing during the first two stages of language development. When these children reach school age their behaviors may be taken to mean they are disinterested or not academically inclined, when in reality they are suffer a physical, not a mental disability.
If 5% (one in twenty) of children suffer from a hearing loss in one ear one can only image the number of children who are misdiagnosed, mislabeled or simply fall through the cracks. Depending on class size, statistically a teacher can expect at least one student who suffers from this disability...
Poor academic performance by these students may be attributed to their home environment when in fact it is not.
It is incumbent upon teachers to be aware of this phenomenon and to rule it out as a cause for poor academic and/or social behavior. These students need to be identified early in order to afford them every opportunity to become academically successful.
References
Ericson, G. (2010, May 5). Kids with hearing loss in one ear fall behind in language skills, study finds. Science daily news. Retrieved July 17, 2011 from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100504155411.htm
