Psychological aspects when counseling families who have children with cochlear implants

Abstract

The report begins with the latest debate on Cochlear Implants (CI) – the role they play during the development of a deaf child, analyzing the psychological aspects which characterize the experiences of families of children who do get implanted, starting from the detection of deafness until after implantation. The aim is to demonstrate how in these experiences and during all developmental phases the significant role the psychologist plays and how important timely intervention of specific programs is for both child and parents. Numerous studies have demonstrated that CI offers advantages in terms of recuperating capacity to hear and the development of spoken language. Recent studies focusing on psychological aspects have shifted the attention to the positive results of CI in comparison to the social environment in addition to family traits such as the parental reaction to the diagnosis of their child’s deafness, mental coping strategies and the subsequent behaviors they adopt. In 90% of these cases, the parents are hearing and often have no experience in regards to deafness, and this is why when they find out that their child is deaf, their reaction is similar to that of bereavement. Consequently, prior to implantation it is necessary that a psychologist makes an accurate assessment in order to be able to intervene in situations where there is parental stress and help them cope by implementing a copying paradigm. The reaction to child deafness and the strategies of copying that they have acquired influence the family’s expectations in respects to the CI, and in turn this influences the outcome after implantation. During the assessment, an important aspect for the psychologist is evaluating the motivation towards the rehabilitative program and the strong interaction between the parents and the child – both of these elements are closely connected to a positive outcome of the CI. During the post implant period, recent studies have shown an improvement of parental behavior as well as the development of the child in the domains of shared attention, problem solving, symbolic play and social functioning. In addition, during this stage the relationships between parents and children are more effective, and all parental figures are positively motivated towards appropriate behaviors. Hence the effects of CI are no longer limited to the implanted child, but now entail the entire family. In fact, the parents judge the quality of their lives on the basis of how successful they perceive the results obtained by having their child undergo a CI. Consequently, they regulate their behavior and attitudes influencing the child’s development. Parents themselves maintain that specialized psychological support is fundamental during all stages connected to CI and more generally to the overall development of their child.

Keywords::

• deafness
• cochlear implant
• children
• development
• psychological aspects
• parents
• counseling

Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the paper.