Originally Posted by faire_jour

I disagree, from personal experience. My daughter was labeled as one of those kids who "can't" understand and use spoken language. When she had hearing aids, she couldn't. She had, literally, zero speech understand and maybe, a two dozen spoken words that she could use (and maybe 3 that were understandable to strangers). After her CI, we continued using the same therapist (and for almost a year, the same educational placement) and she gained 2 years worth of spoken language in 9 months. The only thing that changed was her access to sound.