Til hovedinnhold

Barn med hørselstap er i risiko for forsinket utvikling på flere områder

Forskning og utvikling

Barn med hørselstap er i risiko for forsinket utvikling på flere områder. Tidlig diagnostisering og oppfølging har bidratt til bedre utviklingsbetingelser, men vi vet ikke like mye om barn med milde og moderate tap, som de med større tap.

I denne studien ble 35 4-5-åringer med høreapparater inkludert. De fleste hadde milde eller moderate hørselstap og brukte hovedsakelig norsk tale, noen med tegnstøtte. Psykososial fungering, emosjonsforståelse, sosiale ferdigheter og talespråklig ordforråd ble kartlagt. En gruppe på 180 barn med normal hørsel, hentet fra den longitudinelle populasjonsstudien Tidlig trygg i Trondheim, utgjorde kontrollgruppen. Barn med høreapparater viste flere tegn til psykososiale vansker enn barna med normal hørsel. Barn som fikk sitt hørselstap oppdaget tidlig, hadde færre vansker. Selv om barn med høreapparater hadde svakere ordforråd enn barn med normal hørsel, var sammenhengen mellom ordforråd og psykososiale vansker svak. Emosjonsforståelsen til barn med hørselstap var like god som barn med normal hørsel. Foreldrene til barn med hørseltap var mer presise når de skulle anslå barnets emosjonsforståelse enn det foreldre til barn med normal hørsel var, og høyere presisjon predikerte bedre emosjonsforståelse hos barna. Sosiale ferdigheter hos barn med moderate og alvorlige tap var på linje med barn med normal hørsel, mens barn med milde eller ensidige tap var betydelig forsinket.

Kort oppsummert tyder funnene på at barn med høreapparater er i risiko for vansker innenfor noen områder av psykososial utvikling, allerede i førskolealder. Språkferdigheter kunne ikke forklare disse vanskene. Tidlig diagnose og intervensjon kan forebygge psykososiale vansker, også for barna med milde eller ensidige tap.

Doktorgraden består av tre artikler

Artikkel 1

Laugen, N. J., Jacobsen, K. H., Rieffe, C., & Wichstrøm, L. (2016). Predictors of Psychosocial Outcomes in Hard-of-Hearing Preschool Children. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 21(3), 259-267.

Children with hearing loss are at risk for developing psychosocial problems. Children with mild to severe hearing loss are less frequently subject to research, in particular in preschool, and we therefore know less about the risk in this particular group. To address this, we compared psychosocial functioning in thirty-five 4–5-year olds with hearing aids to that of 180 typically hearing children. Parent ratings of psychosocial functioning and social skills, as well as scores of receptive vocabulary, were obtained. Children with hearing loss evidenced more psychosocial problems than hearing agemates. Female gender and early detection of hearing loss predicted better psychosocial functioning among children with hearing loss, whereas vocabulary and degree of hearing loss did not. Early intervention addressing psychosocial functioning is warranted for children with all degrees of hearing loss, including mild and moderate. Gender differences should be investigated in future research.

Artikkel 2

Laugen, N. J., Jacobsen, K. H., Rieffe, C., & Wichstrøm, L. (2017). Emotion Understanding in Preschool Children with Mild-to-Severe Hearing Loss. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 22(2), 155-163.

Deaf and hard of hearing school-aged children are at risk for delayed development of emotion understanding; however, little is known about this during the preschool years. We compared the level of emotion understanding in a group of 35 4–5-year-old children who use hearing aids to that of 130 children with typical hearing. Moreover, we investigated the parents’ perception of their child’s level of emotion understanding. Children were assessed with the Test of Emotion Comprehension. Parents were presented with the same test and asked to guess what their child answered on each item. The results showed that children with hearing loss performed at the same level as typically hearing children, despite having lower vocabulary scores. Parents of children with hearing loss were more accurate in their estimations of their child’s competence, and higher accuracy was associated with better emotion understanding. These findings may have implications for early intervention planning.

Artikkel 3

Nina J. Laugen, Karl H. Jacobsen, Carolien Rieffe & Lars Wichstrøm (2017) Social skills in preschool children with unilateral and mild bilateral hearing loss. Deafness & Education International, 19:2, 54-62.

Hearing loss may represent a risk for developing social skills difficulties; however, little is known about the potential risk resulting from unilateral or mild bilateral hearing loss (UMHL). We compared the social skills of 14 children with UMHL and 21 children with moderate to severe hearing loss (MSHL) with those of 123 children with typical hearing (TH). All the children were 4-5 years old, and all the children with hearing loss used hearing aids. Associations between social skills and age at amplification and vocabulary skills were examined. The children with UMHL had lower social skills than the TH children, whereas the children with MSHL received scores similar to those of the TH children. The children with UMHL were detected and amplified later than the children with MSHL. Early amplification was associated with better social skills but not with better vocabulary. The results suggest that despite a limited effect on vocabulary development, early intervention is likely to promote social skills development in children with UMHL.

Les mer om tema her.