Language development in deaf or hard‐of‐hearing children with additional disabilities: type matters!

Abstract

The results suggest that type of AD can be used to gauge expected language development in the population of children with hearing loss and ADs when formal assessment of cognitive ability is not feasible.

Children Who Are Deaf/Hard of Hearing with Disabilities: Paths to Language and Literacy

“…Children with a DQ of less than 80 had approximately half the rate of progress seen in the typically developing deaf children although the rate of progress was commensurate with their developmental delay level [26]. These results are similar to the studies mentioned earlier that found variation in benefit from implantation among disability types [13,41]. A further study by Meinzen-Derr et al [31] examined post-implant language gains between children with development delays who had cochlear implants and a cognitively matched control group of hearing children.…”

“…Studies examining auditory receptive and expressive language development of children who were DWD and received cochlear implants or hearing aids prior to 3 years of age found that as a group, at age 3 and 5, language scores on standardized tests improved; however, when examined by type of disability, language scores of children with ASD, developmental disabilities, and cerebral palsy in addition to hearing loss, declined relative to typically developing peers. Better outcomes were significantly associated with higher maternal education [13,41]. Such findings suggest that more research in the field is needed in order to enhance early intervention with families in these particular disability areas in order to improve language outcomes.…”

“…Challenges reported were managing the devices, getting children to use them, funding, and multiple appointments [82]. Consistent themes across DHH-ID cochlear implant studies are (a) variation in type of disability, (b) need for knowledge in how to maximize post-implant gains in children with DWD including ID, and (c) recognition of diverse types of benefit that can be attained [13,26,31,41,81,82].…”

“…However, it is also thought that the diagnosis of ASD is often overlooked in the population of students who are DHH [25,88] and diagnosis is complicated by the lack of standardized assessment instruments for ASD that are appropriate for the DHH population, difficulties in audiological assessment, overlapping characteristics of ASD and DHH, and diagnostic overshadowing [25,27,28,30,40,88]. The literature base in DHH-ASD is limited but includes identification and assessment [28,30,31,89], social interaction and behavior [90][91][92][93], speech development [13,32,41], sign language [94][95][96], AAC [97], family supports [98,99], and teacher perceptions [34,100]. A search of the research revealed no research specific to literature skills and DHH-ASD, therefore, what is included in the literacy section below is extrapolated from the literature on ASD.…”

Language and Literacy: Issues and Considerations

“…A number of studies [40][41][42] explored the development of sign language as a functional tool in children with additional disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy, and/or developmental delay. Cupples et al [43] found that d/Dhh children with additional disabilities show specific patterns of development that were influenced by the type, severity, and nature of the secondary disability. They offer that the type of additional disability could be used to understand delays in language development in the population of d/Dhh children with additional disabilities when a formal assessment of cognitive ability was not feasible.…”