Evaluation of Children with Hearing Loss in a Special Education Centre by TEDIL-3 Test in Mardin

Abstract

ABS TRACT Objective: To assess the conditions based on Early Lan- guage Development Test (TEDIL-3) scores after rehabilitation in children with hearing loss who continue special education in a single centre in Mardin, a city in southeast Türkiye. Material and Methods: De-mography, auditory findings, depression status of 53 (53% male, 47% female, aged 3-7 years) children, given a special education, in July and October 2021, were evaluated by TEDIL-3 test. Group P consisted of patients with scores above average and F group consist of children hav-ing scores below average on the TEDIL-3 test. Scores in different char- acteristics and between groups were compared with analysis of correlations and factor analysis. Results: As a result of the study, 30 (57%) children have been found to be in group P, 23 (43%) of them in group F. Statistical significance and higher scores were seen in chil- dren with families with monolanguage than bilanguage (p<0.05). Diagnosis age was higher in group F (mean±SD; 18.5±18.1) than group P (mean±SD; 7.5±11.4). Cochlear implant age was correlated with di-agnostic age (p=0.013, n=35, r=0.64). Although neonatal hearing screening (NHS) does not have prognostic significance, in the NHS, 41.5% of children were false positives and 7.5% of them had no appli- cation to NHS (p>0.05). Conclusion: Bilingualism and the higher age of diagnosis in hearing loss are major negative factors that we encounter in the auditory rehabilitation by TEDIL scores in Mardin. Correct and compulsory implementation in NHS and raising awaireness on both is- sues will contribute to auditory rehabilitaion in children in Mardin.