In 1990, cochlear implants were approved for children two years of age and up.[33] This drastically changed education for deaf children. More children than ever were migrated out of bilingual-bicultural residential schools and into oral schools and mainstream programs with no extra supports. Parents were not encouraged to sign with their children because it was feared that it would slow down their speech, even though research has shown that the opposite is true.[citation needed] This move from residential schools to day schools and mainstreaming has caused many residential programs to downsize.