Psychosocial development of 5-year-old children with hearing loss: Risks and protective factors

Abstract

Objective: The aims of this paper were to report on the global psychosocial functioning of 5-year-old DHH children and examine the risk and protective factors that predict outcomes. Design: A cross-sectional analysis of data collected from a prospective, population-based longitudinal study. Study sample: Parents/caregivers of 356 children completed questionnaires on psychosocial development (CDI, SDQ), functional communication (PEACH) and demographic information. Children completed standardized assessments of non-verbal cognitive ability (WNV) and language (PLS-4). Results: On average, global psychosocial functioning was within the range of typically developing children; however, variability was high and 12% of children had scores that were more than 2 SDs below the norm. Non-verbal cognitive ability, presence of additional disabilities, language and functional communication significantly predicted outcomes. In contrast, type of hearing device, severity of hearing loss and age at intervention did not. Conclusion: The global psychosocial functioning of this cohort of 5-year-old DHH children fell within the range of typically developing children. The findings suggest that spoken language ability and functional communication skills are vital for healthy psychosocial development.

Key Words:

• Deaf or hard of hearing
• hearing loss
• pediatric
• psychosocial/emotional
• emotional and behavioral
• social skills
• language
• communication

Acknowledgements

We gratefully thank all the children, families and their teachers for participation in this study. We are also indebted to the many persons who served as clinicians for the study participants or assisted in other clinical or administrative capacities at Australian Hearing, Catherine Sullivan Centre, Hear and Say Centre, National Acoustic Laboratories, Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital Cochlear Implant Centre, the Shepherd Centre, and the Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The project described was partly supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (Award Number R01DC008080). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders or the National Institutes of Health.

Funding

We acknowledge the financial support of the HEARing CRC, established and supported under the Cooperative Research Centres Program – an initiative of the Australian Government. The project was also partly supported by the Commonwealth of Australia through the Office of Hearing Services. We also acknowledge the support provided by New South Wales Department of Health, Australia; Phonak Ltd.; and the Oticon Foundation.