Translation and validation of parental perspective questionnaire for children with cochlear implant in persian language.

Objective: Parental views about the outcomes of implantation on the child's quality of life are valuable sources of information for implantation specialists. The aim at this study was to validate the "Parental Perspectives" questionnaire in Persian language.Design: The original questionnaire was translated from English to Persian language; the final Persian version of questionnaire was prepared and evaluated for validity and reliability. The internal consistency of the questionnaire and test-retest reliability were respectively evaluated by Cronbach's alpha and ICC index. Factor analysis was used to determine the construct validity.Study Sample: The participants of this study were 370 parents of CI children.Results: Sampling adequacy for executing of factor analysis was confirmed by the results of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (=0.84) and Bartlett test (p < .05). Three factors were extracted from exploratory factor analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the accuracy of the three-dimensional structures. Principal component analysis revealed the structural validity of three factors. Correlation between questionnaire items was good (r = 0.76). Reliability coefficient was calculated as 0.93.Conclusions: The Persian version of the questionnaire has good validity and reliability and can be used to examine the perspectives of the parents about CI.

Comparison of the Speech Syntactic Features between Hearing-Impaired and Normal Hearing Children.

INTRODUCTION: The present study seeks to describe and analyze the syntactic features of children with severely hearing loss who had access to the hearing aids compared with children with normal hearing, assigning them to the same separate gender classes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the present study, eight children with severe hearing impairment who used a hearing aid and eight hearing children matched for age and gender were selected using an available sampling method based on the principles of auditory-verbal approach. Hearing children had an average age of 5.45 ±1.9 years and subjects had a mean age of 5.43±2.17 years and their rehabilitation had begun before they were 18 months old. The assessment instrument of the study included the language development test, TOLDP-3. The syntactic skills of these children were analyzed and compared with the hearing children of the same age based on gender. RESULTS: There was a significant difference between the syntactic scores of the hearing-impaired children and the scores of the hearing children of the same age in the "sentence imitation" (t=-2/90, P<0/05) and "grammatical completion" (t=-3/39, P<0/05) subtests, with no significant difference in the "grammatical understanding" subtest (t=1/67, P>0/05). Moreover, there was no significant difference between male and female children with hearing impairment in terms of syntactic skills development. CONCLUSION: With early diagnosis and timely rehabilitating intervention, children with hearing loss can perform in a similar way to children of their age with normal hearing in some syntactical areas. Furthermore, the gender factor in the present study had no effect on the development of syntactical skills of children with hearing loss.

Auditory-Verbal Music Play Therapy: An Integrated Approach (AVMPT).

INTRODUCTION: Hearing loss occurs when there is a problem with one or more parts of the ear or ears and causes children to have a delay in the language-learning process. Hearing loss affects children's lives and their development. Several approaches have been developed over recent decades to help hearing-impaired children develop language skills. Auditory-verbal therapy (AVT) is one such approach. Recently, researchers have found that music and play have a considerable effect on the communication skills of children, leading to the development of music therapy (MT) and play therapy (PT). There have been several studies which focus on the impact of music on hearing-impaired children. The aim of this article is to review studies conducted in AVT, MT, and PT and their efficacy in hearing-impaired children. Furthermore, the authors aim to introduce an integrated approach of AVT, MT, and PT which facilitates language and communication skills in hearing-impaired children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this article we review studies of AVT, MT, and PT and their impact on hearing-impaired children. To achieve this goal, we searched databases and journals including Elsevier, Chor Teach, and Military Psychology, for example. We also used reliable websites such as American Choral Directors Association and Joint Committee on Infant Hearing websites. The websites were reviewed and key words in this article used to find appropriate references. Those articles which are related to ours in content were selected. CONCLUSION: VT, MT, and PT enhance children's communication and language skills from an early age. Each method has a meaningful impact on hearing loss, so by integrating them we have a comprehensive method in order to facilitate communication and language learning. To achieve this goal, the article offers methods and techniques to perform AVT and MT integrated with PT leading to an approach which offers all advantages of these three types of therapy.