Outcomes for Children With HL: Effects of Age of ID, Sign Support, and Auditory Prosthesis

Abstract The purpose of the project reported here was to examine the effects of three independent variables on developmental outcomes for children with hearing loss (HL): age of identification of hearing loss, whether or not spoken language input was supported with signs and whether children used hearing aids (HAs) or cochlear implants (CI). Children with and without hearing loss were tested multiple times between 12 and 48 months of age, at their 6-month birthdays. Dependent variables were selected to examine all aspects of child development: receptive and expressive language, psychosocial components of personality, deleterious behaviors, adaptive behaviors, parental language style, and levels of parenting stress. Results support several main findings: None of the independent variables had any significant effect on any dependent variable unrelated to language. Mean levels of all language skills were delayed for all groups of children with HL, even those children identified at birth with only moderate los...