Push toward hearing interventions over ASL leading to language deprivation in deaf people, experts say

"You want him to learn to say 'Mom,' don't you?"

That's what a speech pathologist asked Michelle Grodecki a decade ago when her son, Oscar, was diagnosed with a rare type of hearing loss at 18 months old.

The specialist at the Saskatchewan Pediatric Auditory Rehabilitation Centre (SPARC) told Grodecki that Oscar's best shot at learning to communicate would be through medical approaches. Learning American Sign Language (ASL) was out of the question.

"I was told, 'That's really not the best option. We really want him to speak, and sign language is going to prevent him speaking,'" said Grodecki, who lives in Regina.

For decades, academics around the world have argued over how best to support children diagnosed with hearing loss. Some criticize what they call a binary way of thinking that favours medical interventions over sign language. They say that can lead deaf and hard of hearing kids to struggle to develop socially, delay them in school and cause them to feel isolated.

Despite calls for broader access to ASL, change has been slow in Saskatchewan.

WATCH | In this ASL-interpreted video, people explain the importance of learning sign language — and what's getting in the way of early access:

According to a 2016 Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission report for Deaf, deaf and hard of hearing people, Grodecki isn't alone in her experience at SPARC.

Most families are sent to the centre after hearing loss is detected during a newborn screening test. SPARC focuses largely on improving speech through technology, like cochlear implants (devices that electrically stimulate the hearing nerve) and auditory verbal therapy, which focuses on listening and speaking without lip-reading.

SPARC takes this approach because most deaf babies are born to hearing parents who want their children to be part of their speaking culture, said Lynne Brewster, the audiologist who runs the centre. 

She said sign language support is usually recommended later, should the auditory verbal therapy or cochlear implants not work.

"We really are not in a position to be all things to all people," Brewster said, noting it's only her running the centre with a couple of part-time specialists.

She's also found children learning ASL while trying these other approaches can hinder their speech development.

But the report says this point of view is "in contrast to the opinions expressed by other health-care professionals who participated in this process."