CI Children Achieve Similar Educational, Employment Levels as Peers

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Physorg.com - April 19, 2010

http://www.physorg.com/news190816347.html

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Children with cochlear implants appear to achieve similar educational and

employment levels as peers

Deaf children who receive cochlear implants appear more likely to fail early

grades in school, but they ultimately achieve educational and employment

levels similar to their normal-hearing peers, according to a report in the

April issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

" For profoundly deaf <http://www.physorg.com/tags/deaf+children/> children,

cochlear implantation with rehabilitation is the recommended treatment to

provide auditory function and facilitate proficiency in oral communication, "

the authors write as background information in the article. " In an ideal

situation, cochlear implantation should also allow recipients to integrate

into the hearing world and improve their quality of life; however, these

outcomes can be difficult to measure. "

Investigating educational and employment status is one way of assessing

quality of life, the authors note. Frederic Venail, M.D., Ph.D., of Centre

Hospitalier Universitaire Gui de Chauliac, France, and colleagues

interviewed the parents of 100 children who were deaf before they began to

speak, received cochlear implants

<http://www.physorg.com/tags/cochlear+implants/> before age 6 and had at

least four years of follow-up (average follow-up, 10.6 years). Of the 74

patients without additional disabilities, 24 were age 8 to 11, 24 were age

12 to 15, 18 were age 16 to 18 and eight were older than 18 years.

Most children who did not have additional disabilities received mainstream

schooling (67 percent to 83 percent of the 74 children, depending on the age

group). Nineteen or 26 percent experienced delays in acquiring reading and

writing skills, 39 (53 percent) experienced grade failures and, compared

with the age-matched general French population, they experienced a mild

delay in educational placement.

" The number of grade failures was associated with communication mode at the

time of the survey, " the authors write, with those communicating orally

having fewer failures than those who used sign language or a combination of

the two. " Age at implantation, preoperative communication mode and

educational support influenced the final communication mode. "

In the group of eight participants older than 18, five had a high school

diploma (62 percent, vs. 53 percent of the general population), three had

pursued vocational training, four had a university-level education and one

was employed with a <http://www.physorg.com/news190816347.html> master's

degree.

Among the participants with other disabilities, level of academic

achievement and employment status varied. " Mainstreaming is not always

possible, and specialized schools are often used, " the authors write. " For

these cochlear implant recipients, vocational education may provide a

valuable alternative, and most still benefit from cochlear implants. "

" Prelingually deaf children without additional disabilities achieve

satisfactory educational and employment successes after cochlear

implantation, especially if the cochlear implant allows for the use of oral

communication, " the authors conclude. " If delays in writing and reading

skills and grade failures are commonly observed, perhaps as a consequence of

the auditory deprivation before cochlear implantation, early cochlear

implantation should reduce these delays, and further studies are required to

address this point. "

More information: Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2010;136[4]:366-372