Factors that affect the social well-being of children with cochlear implants

Abstract

The aim of the study was to identify factors associated with the level of social well-being for cochlear implanted children and to estimate effect-related odds ratios for the children's well-being. Another aim was to analyse associations between speech and language level and the level of social well-being. Data relate to 167 children with cochlear implants. In structural interviews, parents rated their children's level of social well-being regarding the degree of their child's personal-social adjustment. Five different factors were considered. Logistic regression models and proportional odds models were used to analyse the relationship between the considered factors and the assessments. The analyses showed that the communication mode at home was the most highly associated factor. A statistically signifi cant association was found between the level of social well-being and speech understanding, speech production and vocabulary. Children who were exposed to a spoken language had considerably better odds of having a high level of social well-being compared to children with a mixture of spoken language and sign support or sign language. Copyright Factors that affect the social well-being of children with cochlear implants 201The purpose of the study was, thus, to investigate whether the effect-related factors for speech and language outcomes also affect the social well-being of a paediatric cochlear implanted population. The study also sought to quantify data by estimating effect-related odds ratios for the level of social well-being of cochlear implanted children. Furthermore, the study sought to investigate whether the speech and language level post-implant was associated with the cochlear implanted children's level of social well-being.Factors that affect the social well-being of children with cochlear implants 213 child, not only for obtaining and securing a high level of speech and language, but also and very importantly to obtain and secure a high level of social well-being.

Psychopathology and Its Risk and Protective Factors in Hearing-Impaired Children and Adolescents

“…‡ Lower levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms have been described in children with better language, speech understanding, speech production, or vocabulary. 5,13,34,37,65 This finding is supported and extended by others, who detected that once speech and language abilities were good, no psychopathological symptoms were present at all (S.C.P.M.T., C.R., W.S., J.J.B., L. Ketelaar, MSc, M. Kouwenberg, MA, MSc, and J.H.M.F., unpublished data). 62 Moreover, Dammeyer 9 demonstrated that when communication skills were good, regardless of the modality (sign or spoken), no psychosocial differences were observed between HI and NH children.…”

Academic Performance, Communication, and Psychosocial Development of Prelingual Deaf Children with Cochlear Implants in Mainstream Schools

“…In Korea, students requiring special education are usually placed in mainstream schools rather than in separate special schools and special classes. Previous studies have emphasized the following principal benefits of inclusive education of implanted children: naturalistic access to typical linguistic and behavioral models of hearing peers, and social acceptance by hearing peers [6,23,24]. Children with CIs in mainstream schools reported having friends with mostly normal hearing (Q1 in Table 3).…”

Cochlear Implants in Children: A Review

“…A statistically significant association has also been found between the level of social wellbeing in children with cochlear implants and their speech perception, production and language skills (Dammeyer, 2010;Percy-Smith et al, 2008b). Social development usually follows language skill development, and improvements in both have been observed to occur more quickly for children with cochlear implants than for children with severe-profound hearing loss using hearing aids (Bat-Chava et al, 2005).…”

“…As mentioned earlier, children implanted at older ages appear to be at greater risk of loneliness (Schorr, 2006), and it has been suggested that this may be due to the fact that they do not develop feelings of belonging and inclusion at a young age, as do children with normal hearing, due to their delayed language prior to implantation. It is also reported that children with cochlear implants in mainstream educational settings who are exposed to spoken, rather than signed, language at home have a higher level of social wellbeing (Percy-Smith et al, 2008b;van Gent et al, 2007). This may be because children in these settings are more likely to have hearing parents, and therefore are continuing to speak their first language in these settings, rather than using sign language at home and spoken language at school, as would children of many deaf parents.…”

“…This may be because children in these settings are more likely to have hearing parents, and therefore are continuing to speak their first language in these settings, rather than using sign language at home and spoken language at school, as would children of many deaf parents. There is also no evidence that children with cochlear implants in mainstream educational settings, where speech is used exclusively for communication, have an increased incidence of social or emotional difficulties compared to children in special educational settings (Filipo et al, 1999;Nicholas & Geers, 2003;Percy-Smith et al, 2008b).…”