Using a developmental approach, this book combines a review of up-to-date data with theory and first-hand observations to provide guidelines for development of deaf and hard-of-hearing children (birth to age 3) and ways professionals and parents can best support their learning and language development.

• Dedication


• Preface


• Chapter 1: Great Expectations: An Introduction


• Chapter 2: What Can My Baby Hear?


• Chapter 3: Welcome to the World: The Prenatal Period to 3 Months


• Chapter 4: Early Parenting Goals: Nurturing and Supporting Development in the First 3 Months


• Chapter 5: Why Is Early Learning So Important: 3 to 6 Months


• Chapter 6: Learning, Feeling, and Communicating: 3 to 6 Months


• Chapter 7: On the Move: 6 to 12 Months


• Chapter 8: Little Communicators: 6 to 12 Months


• Chapter 9: The Symbol Users: Representing, Remembering, Recreating: 12 to18 Months


• Chapter 10: Almost Two and Look What's New! 18 to 24 Months


• Chapter 11: Little Psychologists and Budding Linguists: From Two to Three Years Old


• Chapter 12: Where We Are...and Where We are Going


• References


• Resources and Websites for Parents and Professionals

Patricia Elizabeth Spencer has been a teacher, assessment specialist, and educational advocate for deaf and hard-of-hearing students (including those with multiple learning challenges) across the age range of infancy through post-graduate levels. Her work at the Gallaudet Research Institute focused on early interaction, play, and language development. She has worked internationally as a researcher and educational consultant and has written extensively on issues related to development and education of deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
Lynne Sanford Koester retired from the University of Montana after 25 years of teaching developmental psychology there and at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. She has also worked in Ethiopia, Austria, and Germany, and is the former Director of the Intercultural Youth and Family Development graduate program at her university. Her research has focused primarily on infant development within the family context - parenting behaviors and cultural influences, early parent-child interactions, and intuitive parenting.