In Utah, hearing screening of all newborns — mandatory at all hospitals since 1999 — has lowered the average age of detection from 18 months to less than 6 months. That means that each of those families can then be enrolled sooner in the parent-infant program run by the USDB.

The main goal, says parent-infant specialist Holly Hyte, is to introduce the child to language as soon as possible. "Our job is to guide parents through the discovery process of determining whether their child hears 'enough' language with the use of amplification alone or if adding sign language will give them a more complete grasp of the world."

If parents opt for a cochlear implant for the child, Hyte encourages them to also begin exposing their children to ASL as soon as possible, because there are times when the implant must be turned off (in the bathtub and on electrostatic playground equipment like that found at McDonald's), and there is also the chance the implant may prove unsuccessful. If the parents want to go the total ASL route, they're hooked up with a "Deaf mentor" who visits the home once a week to teach signing and to talk about Deaf role models.

Catherine and Spencer Scott and their two deaf children have had several Deaf mentors so far, and the whole family is learning ASL at the same time. The children also have cochlear implants.

"This is a way for us to get the best of both worlds, the Deaf world and our world," says Catherine. Not that she didn't cry as she and Spencer debated whether to try the implants for her children.

Her son and daughter may grow up and want to be part of the Deaf culture — may more closely relate to people who prefer only to sign, may not even want to use their implants — and that's fine, she says.

Some of their mentors haven't agreed with the Scotts' decision to get the implants. Implicit in the disapproval, perhaps, is a disappointment that deafness is seen as something that needs fixing. "But they've been very kind to us," she says. Even in the midst of the culture war, there are many ways to call a truce.

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E-mail: jarvik@desnews.com