School achievement of deaf children ten years after cochlear implantation

Abstract

ObjectiveThis longitudinal study examines school achievement in terms of grade failures among deaf children ten years after cochlear implantation according to the children's age, language skills, intelligibility and parental socio-educational status. MethodsThe participants were 50 deaf children, the mean age at implantation was 3,7 years, with a standard deviation of 1,3 years. Data were collected at two time points: 5 and 10 years after implantation (CI+5 and CI+10). ResultsResults showed that at CI+10 only 18% of the subjects were in the expected class for their age. Early cochlear implantation, a high level of parental education, good speech intelligibility and language skills in comprehension and expression at CI+5 and CI+10 improved school achievement at CI+10. A logistic regression suggested that parental education and age at implantation were predictive factors for grade failure. ConclusionThese results indicate that early cochlear implantation and high parental education levels are protective factors against schooling delays in deaf children after cochlear implantation.