Study on Factors in Early Language Development of Profound Hearing-impaired Children

Abstract

Early language development in 14 young children under 3 years of age with profound hearing-impairments, who had been fitted with hearing aids and had received speech therapy at our clinic, was analyzed by the following five-points: starting age of training, intelligence quotient, upbringing environment, speech therapy program and hearing management.
The main results were as follows:
1) In the children receiving speech therapy at an early stage (within eighteen months of age), 3 of 6 patients showed good development of early language but the other 3 had a rather delayed development.
2) All children having an inadequate environment of upbringing showed a markedly delay of learning to speak. Therefore, it was presumed that environmental conditions were most important factors in these children.
3) Concerning the training methods, the way in which the hearing-impaired children were taught together with their mother or another person was most effective, more than those with only other hearing-impaired children alone for early language development.
4) There were no children with deterioration of hearing loss, however 2 patients suffering from otitis media with effusion showed a slight delay of speech development. Most importantly, it was thought that speech therapy should be performed together with the periodic management of hearing acuity.