"...can finally tell her parents she loves them" ... and perhaps you have seen those teary videos on Youtube, too, where a toddler hears the first time after a

"...can finally tell her parents she loves them" ... and perhaps you have seen those teary videos on Youtube, too, where a toddler hears the first time after a surgery and reacts to sound? I am afraid that these pieces are at least somewhat disingenuous. Usually they avoid to put into primary focus two important things: - that even with surgery the child needs lots and lots of speech therapy (BBC said at least "...years of therapy...") - and that it doesn't always work out. These failed experiments are truly tragic: these children never learnt to communicate in a human language and will be mentally limited for their whole life: it's an effect of language deprivation. The best way to approach a deaf child to minimize risks is a two-pronged approach: The parents should accept that they need to learn a Signed Language and the child should grow up bilingually: both in a Signed Language and in a Voiced Language. This prevents language deprivation if surgery didn't work out optimally. So, in short: the girl should have been able to tell her parents she loves them long ago! Disclaimer: I am Deaf myself and opinionated about this subject.