ABSTRACT
There is no doubt that the diagnosis of a profound hearing loss in the child of hearing parents elicits within the parents a complex array of emotions including sorrow, confusion, guilt, anger, and a strong desire to do the right thing to help their child (Meadow, 1980; Roush, 1994). The diagnosis of hearing loss brings the initiation of ongoing contact with professionals who will play a significant role with the child and family over the next several years. These professional contacts will likely include medical doctors, audiologists, early interventionists, special education teachers, speech therapists, counselors, interpreters, and so forth. Additional contacts with other parents of children with hearing loss and paraprofessionals are also likely to occur either in person or via the internet, which is becoming an in-creasingly used resource of which parents are availing themselves. The child’s need for specialized educational and professional resources will likely be a lifelong process for the child and family (Marschark, 1997).
