Practitioners' perspectives on the functioning of school-age children with cochlear implants

Abstract

Objective

The availability of cochlear implants has increased the number of children with profound deafness educated in classrooms alongside peers with normal hearing. The purpose of this research was to better understand the functioning of these children from the perspective of their service providers.

Methods

Semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted with 28 practitioners to elicit their perceptions of children's abilities in oral communication, academic, and social functioning. Data were coded inductively and examined through content analysis.

Results

The central theme was that cochlear implantation has improved school functioning for children both in hearing and related spoken language abilities and beyond hearing in academic and social development. While these benefits were a consistent theme, a wide range of performance was identified across all areas of functioning. In particular, areas of concern included full participation in classroom activities and social interaction with peers.

Conclusions

The findings provide insights into functioning for children with cochlear implants from the perspective of those who interact with them in everyday settings. These findings underscore the challenges for children in achieving full participation despite improvements in communication skills. Practitioners identified areas where intervention is required to facilitate the inclusion of children in school programs.

Keywords:

• Cochlear implant
• Children
• Communication
• Academic functioning
• Social development
• Qualitative research

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a partnership grant from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Health Sciences and the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. The first author also acknowledges research support from a Canadian Institutes of Health New Investigator Award [MSH 95338]. We would like to thank the practitioners who shared their insights and perceptions as participants in this study. We thank JoAnne Whittingham for help with managing the study and Margie Katz for assistance with transcription of the interviews. We also acknowledge support for the Child Hearing Laboratory from the Masonic Foundation of Ontario.