The primary function of speech is communication, social intercourse. - (L. S. Vygotsky, 1934/1962, p. 6)

In this issue of Topics in Language Disorders, issue editors Drs. Linda I. Rosa-Lugo and Barbara J. Ehren worked with several authors to address the topic of Language in Children and Adolescents With Hearing Loss Who Are Learning English as Another Spoken Language. The combination of acquiring listening, spoken language, and literacy skills, while coping with hearing loss and learning more than one spoken language, raises a unique set of challenges. Drs. Rosa-Lugo and Ehren conceptualized this issue as a resource for practitioners and practitioners-in-training. It also has implications for highlighting gaps in research regarding this special population.

The issue begins with an explanation of the end goal and its importance. That is, Rosa-Lugo and Ehren (2018) discuss the importance of higher level language skills to employment and academic success. This clarifies the nature of the language learning demands for this unique population. Then Alfano and Douglas (2018) discuss literature that can guide efforts to facilitate preliteracy development in children with hearing loss when the family's home language is not English. Soman and Nevins (2018) next outline the principles of listening and spoken language practices that can promote and support the acquisition of higher language abilities that are the end goal. Guiberson and Crowe (2018) follow with a more formal, but still preliminary, scoping review of literature. They include literature that addresses one or more of the key issues related to the presence of hearing loss, the need for instruction and intervention to account for the process of learning English as another language, or both. Finally, Houston, Robertson, and Wray (2018) take the perspective of what professionals need to know as they promote listening, the use of spoken language, and the acquisition of literacy for this special population.

This issue is packed with information and reminders about this special population, all aimed at recommendations for services that are culturally and linguistically appropriate and can meet the needs of children and adolescents with hearing loss who are in their preschool or school-age years and learning more than one spoken language. The focus is not just on building basic communicative competence but also on the targeting of sophisticated spoken and written language skills that can move these children and adolescents to higher levels of academic success and provide greater employment opportunities. A theme woven throughout is the need for interprofessional collaborative practice. This requires constant awareness of the child's or adolescent's access to audition, as close to birth as possible, through technology involving well-fitted amplification or cochlear implantation and systems that can provide high-quality access to spoken language in group learning settings as well as in the socially nurturing contexts of home.

Several of the authors also address roles for parents and the need for preparation and certification as Listening and Spoken Language Specialists (LSLS; under the auspices of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing) for professionals who already have a background in audiology, speech-language pathology, or education of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. The glaring need for more research with this special population shines through in the multiple descriptions of literature that can inform practice. Despite the gaps, there is much here to consider in the process of striving toward best practice and reaching higher language and literacy goals for this unique and varied group of children and adolescents. We are pleased to bring it to you.

-Nickola Wolf Nelson, PhD

Editor-in-Chief

-Gary A. Troia, PhD

Associate Editor

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