The School Career of Children With Hearing Loss in Different Primary Educational Settings-A Large Longitudinal Nationwide Study.

Tirza F K Van Der Straaten,Evelien Dirks,Jeroen J Briaire,Carolien Rieffe,Wim Soede,Johan H M Frijns

doi:10.1093/deafed/enab008

Tirza F K Van Der Straaten, Evelien Dirks + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enab008

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Abstract

Children with hearing loss (HL) are at risk for a lower educational achievement. This longitudinal study compared the school career of a nationwide Dutch cohort with and without HL based on descriptive data of the governmental authority Statistics Netherlands. From 2008 to 2018, 3,367,129 children, of whom 1,193 used cochlear implants (CIs) and 8,874 used hearing aids (HAs), were attending primary and/or secondary education. Sixty-one percent of children with HL attended mainstream and 31% special primary education. Compared to mainstreamed pupils without HL, mainstreamed pupils with HL achieved lower levels for language and mathematics in primary education but eventually attended comparable types of secondary education. Children with HL attending special primary education attained lower types of secondary education compared to mainstreamed peers with and without HL. These findings suggest that future educational (and as a result professional) attainment of a child with HL depends on the type of primary educational setting.

Highlights

Detection and hearing rehabilitation with hearing aids (HAs) and/or cochlear implants (CIs), family-centered early intervention, preschool treatment groups, and extra guidance at school have brought great enhancement for the development of children with hearing loss (HL) (Marschark & Spencer, 2011; Moeller et al, 2015; Yoshinaga-Itano, 2004)
These findings suggest that future educational attainment of a child with HL depends on the type of primary educational setting
The type of education during primary school years is shown in Figure 2 for children with typical hearing (TH) (n = 3,165,074), CIs (n = 1,193), and HAs (n = 8,874)

Summary

Introduction

Detection and hearing rehabilitation with hearing aids (HAs) and/or cochlear implants (CIs), family-centered early intervention, preschool treatment groups, and extra guidance at school have brought great enhancement for the development of children with hearing loss (HL) (Marschark & Spencer, 2011; Moeller et al, 2015; Yoshinaga-Itano, 2004) It remains unclear whether children with HL are nowadays able to reach their full potential in education, or that they are still at risk due to their HL (Dammeyer & Marschark, 2016; Illg et al, 2017; Nagle et al, 2016; Rydberg et al, 2009; Winn, 2007). The present study examined the type of primary and secondary education in addition to the academic achievements of children with and without HL using a longitudinal design and a nationwide large sample in the Netherlands.

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