Family-centered early intervention

The right to effective language and communication is enshrined in Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.1 Furthermore, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child2 recognizes the right of every child to ‘the highest attainable standard of health’, to the development of ‘mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential’, to optimum socioemotional development and to the opportunity to contribute fully to society. There is now incontrovertible evidence to show that early identification coupled with high-quality diagnostics and intervention can radically improve outcomes in these and other areas for DHH children. Traditional guidance typically refers to three components that need to be included in an EHDI program. • Early screening and confirmation that a child is DHH as part of a newborn hearing screening program or as soon after birth as feasible. • Provision of optimal amplification, such as hearing aids or cochlear implants. • Engagement in an early intervention program. Early intervention, however, is too often conceptualized as primarily the provision of amplification devices, with or without some therapeutic professional input for the development of spoken language. FCEI challenges this notion, emphasizing the need for recognition of different approaches to developing language and communication, whether spoken or signed. FCEI is important to support the wellbeing of families and their DHH children, and facilitates the development of effective early intervention programs in which families themselves, and those with the lived experience of being DHH, are involved not only in evaluating the services they receive but also in their design and strategic development.