Growing Up with Cochlear Implants

Harry Knoors is professor emeritus in deaf education at the Behavioral Science Institute of the Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. For over 25 years he also was on the board of directors of Royal Kentalis, Sint-Michielsgestel. His research focusses on the effects of early childhood deafness and early language impairments on the development of language, literacy and cognition. Amongst others, Knoors was involved in studies into the effects of pediatric cochlear implantation and of early sign language use. In his research, he also addresses issues closely related to the quality of special, i.e. deaf, education.Evelien Dirks is professor in the Early Development and Intervention of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children at Tranzo, Tilburg University, the Netherlands. She is also program director DHH at the Dutch Foundation of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Child in Amsterdam (NSDSK). Her research focusses on the language, social-emotional and cognitive development of deaf and hard of hearing children and the effects of early intervention. The parent-child interaction in relation to child development is often a key element in her research.

• 1: Language development in the first years of life: An introduction PART 1 SETTING THE STAGE 2: Hearing, hearing loss, and being deaf 3: Cochlear implantation: The background 4: Cochlear implantation, brain structure, and brain functioning PART 2 THE EFFECTS OF PEDIATRIC COCHLEAR IMPLANTATION 5: Speech perception, production, and processing 6: Spoken language development 7: Literacy development 8: Cognitive development 9: Psychosocial development PART 3 COMPLEXITIES AND CONTROVERSIES 10: Long-term effects of pediatric cochlear implantation 11: Cochlear implantation, multilingualism, and multimodality 12: Identity, deaf culture, and deaf community 13: Cochlear implants (CIs) for children with additional disabilities 14: Family-centered early intervention (FCEI) PART 4 CONCLUSION 15: Growing up with CIs: Looking back to the future