Quote:
Originally Posted by shel90
My coworkers who have been working in this field for 20 plus years say that today's deaf kids are different than before. I asked them was it cuz of deafness being caused by drugs and stuff and they said no cuz even back then there were kids who became deaf from drugs. They said it is cuz of LRE laws. Just quoting what some of them said. They could be wrong ..who knows?
Anyways, you do have a good point.
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I agree. Silentwolfdog does have a good point. I don't have the exact stats to quote, so this is an estimate....approximately 15% is thought to be congentital, and the rest is due to congential exposure to pathogens during the preganancy. Pathogens can be viral, or introduced agents such as medications, drugs, or alcohol. Of the viral agents, CMV is the most common, and has taken over the role of rubella that we saw 35-40 years ago. It is also thought that many children exposed to CMV congentitally are diagnosed as their deafness being from "unknown etiology" because the pregnant woman often does not have symptoms, or is misdiagnosed with the flu. The remainder of the cases are listed as "unknown etiology". That doesn't mean that they aren't viral, or drug induced, or genetic. It only means that the medical history is not complete enough to determine. Mind you, I am talking about children who are born deaf, not ones that acquire deafness.
I can see where there might be some differences, especially with the CMV caused deafness. Congenital CMV deafness has also been linked to specific learning disorders and specific behavior disorders. So if you have a classroom full of kids with congential CMV deafness, you are most likely noticing patterns in their behavior and learning styles as well.