Utah State University Enhances Hearing Impaired Program

This fall, USU will unveil Sound Beginnings of Cache Valley a $3 million initiative that will have an auditory-oral focus, concentrating on developing speaking skills rather than sign language.

Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education department head Beth Foley said the program will provide an alternative for deaf children and their families, not replace the department's sign language training program.

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"Parents can, and should, be able to choose how they want to communicate with their children," Houston continued. "The fact is that 95 percent of all newborns with permanent hearing loss are born to hearing parents, and with all of the advances in the field, most of these parents want to communicate via spoken language. Many parents are now choosing to get their children cochlear implants, and these children need intensive follow-up training and services to take full advantage of this technology."