It takes two good ears to hear language, so put a nickel on the drum

This article says 5% of kids have hearing loss in one ear when they enter school. They don't get discovered, because their hearing appears normal. But it does cause language deficits, about a 10% drop in scores on the OWLS test of language comprehension and expression. They matched the kids with normal hearing sibs to rule out environmental differences in language development. The effect is stronger in poor kids than rich kids and in kids of uneducated mothers. Isn't everything bad that can happen worse for them?

I wrote, "So one way to improve language comprehension and expression is to," and then I was stuck. The answer is to eliminate poverty and make sure every woman has a good education before she has kids. And while you're at it, cure all congenital diseases and make water gush from the desert.

A lot of things are possible for an individual that would not be possible for the nation. There are enough jobs that any one person maybe able to find one, but there are not enough that everyone can find one. we may be able to take any individual family and do something with them, but we can't do it with all of them. A lot of kids who could be saved from a crappy life won't be. Scaffolding works on the way down as well as the way up, if you don't have anything good to build on.

Jesus, I'm pessimistic this morning. I was just thinking, Maybe 5% have language deficits due to hearing loss in one ear, 1% are schizophrenic, 1% bipolar, 1% autistic, 1% each of several others, and, even with overlap, we're at 10% or 15% of the population who have serious bad stuff going on in their heads.

So when you see one of those homeless guys, mostly guys, panhandling at a street corner, give him a couple of bucks. He's probably not just lazy; he's probably physically disabled or nuts enough that he can't work, and he's one of those we didn't help in time. You could give to an organized charity, but if you give it directly to the homeless guy, the marginal utility of your two dollars is much greater; there's no admin. He might spend it on beer, but with a life and prospects like his, he might as well be as high as two bucks can make him.

Cochlear implants are better sooner than later

A new study shows, like those before it, that cochlear implants make life better for deaf kids, and the sooner they get them, the better. The point is that during the time before the implant, the kid isn't hearing language right, which affects their ability to use it.

Kids who got an implant before 18 months of age reached a particular language development milestone at 36 months, compared with normal  hearing kids' 27 months. Kids who got an implant after age 3 reached the milestone 2 years later, and the actual time per kid was related to when they got the implant.

Normally I give a lot of leeway to parental discretion, but this is a case where dithering hurts the kid. If you have a deaf kid, talk to your doctor about cochlear implants today.

Cochlear implants make life better

Profoundly deaf children with cochlear implants to help them to hear rate their quality of life equal to their normal-hearing peers, according to new research from UT Southwestern Medical Center auditory specialists.

In addition, the earlier a child is implanted with a cochlear device and the longer he or she wears the device, the better overall quality of life the child reports and the more successful the child is in school... "Wearing cochlear implants doesn't seem to create greater psychosocial problems overall for their users. ..."

Cochlear implants are small electronic devices that are surgically implanted in the inner ear and activated by another device worn outside the ear. They bypass damaged or diseased parts of the ear by directly stimulating the auditory nerve, which is connected to the brain.

Cool. Better living through science.

When to do a cochlear implant

Deaf kids who get a cochlear implant prior to 13 months are able to learn words as well as normal-hearing kids. Deaf kids who get the implant later are not.

(T)he findings suggest that early access to auditory input, even if the access to sound is quite impoverished, plays an important role in acquiring the ability to rapidly learn associations between spoken words and their meanings.

Early sensory experiences affect the way the brain wires itself. Parents need to decide early if they're going to do this. I've never had a kid with serious medical issues, but I can't see the issue here. Of course you do a cochlear implant if you have a deaf kid who is a good candidate for it. I understand there will be kids for whom it is not right, but for those for whom it is right, it is right. Said the Tautology Kid.