Evaluation of visual motor perception in children with developmental articulation and phonological disorders.

The aim of this study is to compare the visual-motor perceptual skills of children who have a developmental articulation and phonological disorder, with children who do not have such disorders. A group of 21 children between the ages 5:6 and 9:1 yr. (13 boys, 8 girls) was compared to a control group of 21 children matched on sex, age, and socioeconomic level using the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test. Children with disorders had significantly more Bender errors.

Articulation skills in Turkish speaking children with cochlear implant.

OBJECTIVE: The benefits of using cochlear implant (CI) on speech perception and production have been documented. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of age of cochlear implantation performed and length of auditory experience with CI on the development of articulation skills in prelingual children with CI. METHODS: For this purpose, 14 children with CI were administered through the standardized articulation test named AAT (Ankara Articulation Test). In order to evaluate the development of articulation skills, AAT was applied to each child with CI at the first and the fourth years of CI. The test group was selected among those congenitally hearing impaired children who had used hearing aids bilaterally before the age of one and a half, and received intervention after fitting hearing aids. The test group was divided into two subgroups: Group 1 consisted of the children implanted at and below the age of 3 and Group 2 consisted of the children implanted after the age of 3. Evaluations of articulation skills between groups and within groups were performed in the first and fourth years of implantation. In the study, nonparametric statistics have been used to compare the test scores. Mann-Whitney U-test and Wilcoxon test have been used in the comparisons made between groups and within groups, respectively. RESULTS: While there has not been observed any statistically significant difference between the first year articulation skills of children with CI at and below the age of three and children with CI above the age of 3, for the fourth year this difference has been found to be statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrate the importance of the early application of CI and length of auditory experience with CI in the development of articulation skills.

Preliminary results of auditory brainstem implantation in prelingually deaf children with inner ear malformations including severe stenosis of the cochlear aperture and aplasia of the cochlear nerve.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study is to present the results of 11 children where auditory brainstem implantation (ABI) was successfully performed to restore hearing. STUDY DESIGN: Case presentation. This study was conducted at the departments of Otolaryngology and Neurosurgery at Hacettepe University Ankara, Turkey. PATIENTS: Between July 2006 and April 2008, 11 prelingual (30-56 mo) deaf children with several cochlear malformations had ABI. INTERVENTION: All patients were programmed and were enrolled in auditory verbal therapy sessions and family counseling programs at Hacettepe Auditory Verbal Center. The evaluation was performed at preimplant and again 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months post-switch on. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main test components composing this test battery were Ling 6 Sound Detection-Identification Test, Word Identification Test in Turkish, Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale, and Meaningful Use of Speech Scale. RESULTS: Successful brainstem implantations were performed in all patients with retrosigmoid approach. Six children gained basic audiologic functions and were able to recognize and discriminate sounds, and many could identify environmental sounds such as a doorbell and telephone ring by the third month of ABI. Improvement in mean performance on Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale is apparent for all ABI children. Improvement in Meaningful Use of Speech Scale scores in 2 patients, demonstrating that the child using its own voice for speech performance, was observed between the baseline and 12th month. First, 5 children were able to identify Ling's 6 sound by the end of 2 to 6 months, and 2 of them also started to identify words due to their pattern differences and multisyllabic word identification by 6 to 9 months. Two children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder have made slower progress than the other children with ABIs. CONCLUSION: Our preliminary results show that there is adequate contribution of brainstem implants in the development of auditory-verbal skills. Additional handicaps slow the progress of the prelingually deaf children.

The ages of suspicion, identification, amplification and intervention in children with hearing loss.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the ages of suspicion, identification, amplification and intervention in children with hearing loss. METHODS: In the first stage of the study, we determined the ages of parental suspicion, identification, amplification and intervention in children with hearing loss who were referred to our center between years 1999 and 2004. The data of 199 children with severe to profound hearing loss was analyzed retrospectively. Based on these data, the intervals of suspicion and identification, identification and amplification and amplification and intervention were calculated. In the second stage of study, the data obtained from 156 children with severe to profound hearing loss, who were followed at our center between years 1991 and 1994, was compared to the data obtained in the first stage of study. Data were collected from family questionnaire-based interviews and hospital records. RESULTS: In the first stage of the study, parents reported that hearing loss was suspected at a mean age of 12.5 months. The average ages of identification, amplification and intervention were 19.4; 26.5 and 33.0 months, respectively. The results obtained from the second stage of this study revealed that, ages of suspicion, identification and intervention were significantly smaller for the period of 1999-2004, compared to the period of 1991-1994. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study clearly demonstrate that, in Turkey, there are significant improvements in the ages of suspicion, identification and intervention of hearing loss. Even though these improvements are remarkable, the ages of suspicion, identification, amplification and intervention of hearing loss are still far beyond the suggested ages by the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing.