Early intervention for hearing impairment: appropriate, accessible and affordable.

Before the onset of universal newborn hearing screening, children with hearing loss are not identified until they fail to meet important speech and language milestones at 2 years old and beyond. With the current widespread implementation of universal newborn hearing screening programmes, more infants with hearing loss can now be identified in the first few weeks of life and be fitted with amplification within the first few months. This presentation aims to discuss the adverse effects of hearing loss in a child's development. More importantly, it will highlight the value of early identification and early intervention and how these can maximise a child's healthy development of speech, language, academic, emotional and psychosocial skills, thereby facilitating his/her successful integration into mainstream society. In Singapore, universal newborn hearing screening is in place in major hospitals and polyclinics with childbirth services, making it accessible to all families with newborn babies. There are also a number of early intervention programmes that provide rehabilitation services focusing on the development of communication skills of children with hearing impairment. With the availability of services and abundant government support, any child with hearing loss should be identified as soon as possible and provided with early, appropriate intervention. A hearing impairment is said to be an "invisible disability," yet it is the most common major birth defect. In Singapore, one in 1000 babies are born with severe to profound hearing loss and about 5 in 1000 with lesser degrees of hearing loss. Several surveys indicate that between 1 and 3 percent of all children suffer from hearing loss.