scholarly journals Family-Level Executive Functioning and At-Risk Pediatric Hearing Loss Outcomes

Author(s):  
Andrew Blank ◽  
Rachael Frush Holt ◽  
David B. Pisoni ◽  
William G. Kronenberger

Purpose Using a new measure of family-level executive functioning (EF; the Family Characteristics Scale [FCS]), we investigated associations between family-level EF, spoken language, and neurocognitive skills in children with hearing loss (HL), compared to children with normal hearing. Method Parents of children with HL ( n = 61) or children with normal hearing ( n = 65) completed the FCS-Parent, and clinicians evaluated families using the FCS-Examiner. Children completed an age-appropriate version of the Concepts and Following Directions subtest of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test–Fourth Edition. Child EF was assessed via the parent report Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. Results Two higher order components were derived from FCS subscales: Family Inhibition and Family Organization. For both samples, Family Inhibition was positively associated with child inhibition, child shifting, and child language comprehension skills. Family Organization was differentially associated with child inhibition, working memory, and planning/organization skills across the samples. Additionally, Family Inhibition was associated with child planning and organization skills for children with HL. Conclusions Results support the FCS as a measure of family-level EF. Family-level inhibition related to better child inhibition, flexibility/shifting, and language comprehension across both samples and to better planning and organization skills in children with HL. As children with HL experienced greater difficulties in EF, families demonstrated greater organization, possibly as a compensatory measure. Results suggest that inhibition and organization at a family level may be important targets for the development of novel interventions to promote EF and language outcomes for children with HL.

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 883-892 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha J. Gustafson ◽  
Todd A. Ricketts ◽  
Anne Marie Tharpe

Background: Consistency of hearing aid and remote microphone system use declines as school-age children with hearing loss age. One indicator of hearing aid use time is data logging, another is parent report. Recent data suggest that parents overestimate their children’s hearing aid use time relative to data logging. The potential reasons for this disparity remain unclear. Because school-age children spend the majority of their day away from their parents and with their teachers, reports from teachers might serve as a valuable and additional tool for estimating hearing aid use time and management. Purpose: This study expands previous research on factors influencing hearing aid use time in school-age children using data logging records. Discrepancies between data logging records and parent reports were explored using custom surveys designed for parents and teachers. Responses from parents and teachers were used to examine hearing aid use, remote microphone system use, and hearing aid management in school-age children. Study Sample: Thirteen children with mild-to-moderate hearing loss between the ages of 7 and 10 yr and their parents participated in this study. Teachers of ten of these children also participated. Data Collection and Analysis: Parents and teachers of children completed written surveys about each child’s hearing aid use, remote microphone system use, and hearing aid management skills. Data logs were read from hearing aids using manufacturer’s software. Multiple linear regression analysis and an intraclass correlation coefficient were used to examine factors influencing hearing aid use time and parent agreement with data logs. Parent report of hearing aid use time was compared across various activities and school and nonschool days. Survey responses from parents and teachers were compared to explore areas requiring potential improvement in audiological counseling. Results: Average daily hearing aid use time was ˜6 hr per day as recorded with data logging technology. Children exhibiting greater degrees of hearing loss and those with poorer vocabulary were more likely to use hearing aids consistently than children with less hearing loss and better vocabulary. Parents overestimated hearing aid use by ˜1 hr per day relative to data logging records. Parent-reported use of hearing aids varied across activities but not across school and nonschool days. Overall, parents and teachers showed excellent agreement on hearing aid and remote microphone system use during school instruction but poor agreement when asked about the child’s ability to manage their hearing devices independently. Conclusions: Parental reports of hearing aid use in young school-age children are largely consistent with data logging records and with teacher reports of hearing aid use in the classroom. Audiologists might find teacher reports helpful in learning more about children’s hearing aid management and remote microphone system use during their time at school. This supplementary information can serve as an additional counseling tool to facilitate discussion about remote microphone system use and hearing aid management in school-age children with hearing loss.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 765-777 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Lund

Purpose The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of short-term parent training on maternal use of language stimulation strategies and vocabulary scores in children with hearing loss. Method Six mother–child dyads participated in the multiple-baseline study. During baseline and maintenance, children engaged in a business-as-usual model of clinician-only therapy. During intervention, mothers and children participated in parent training focused on transparent labeling and linguistic mapping strategies. Parent strategy use was measured via weekly play-based probe assessments. Child vocabulary growth was measured via parent report. Results A relation between parent training and use of transparent labeling was established for all mothers, and a relation between parent training and use of linguistic mapping was established for 3 of 6 mothers. Child vocabulary growth rate increased from baseline to intervention in 4 of 6 children. Conclusions Short-term parent training can change parent behavior. However, parents may not maintain these skills without support. Further research is needed to characterize the extent to which short-term training can make long-term changes in parent and child outcomes.


2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Brennan ◽  
Ryan McCreery ◽  
Judy Kopun ◽  
Dawna Lewis ◽  
Joshua Alexander ◽  
...  

Purpose This study compared masking release for adults and children with normal hearing and hearing loss. For the participants with hearing loss, masking release using simulated hearing aid amplification with 2 different compression speeds (slow, fast) was compared. Method Sentence recognition in unmodulated noise was compared with recognition in modulated noise (masking release). Recognition was measured for participants with hearing loss using individualized amplification via the hearing-aid simulator. Results Adults with hearing loss showed greater masking release than the children with hearing loss. Average masking release was small (1 dB) and did not depend on hearing status. Masking release was comparable for slow and fast compression. Conclusions The use of amplification in this study contrasts with previous studies that did not use amplification. The results suggest that when differences in audibility are reduced, participants with hearing loss may be able to take advantage of dips in the noise levels, similar to participants with normal hearing. Although children required a more favorable signal-to-noise ratio than adults for both unmodulated and modulated noise, masking release was not statistically different. However, the ability to detect a difference may have been limited by the small amount of masking release observed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 853-867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna H. Lowenstein ◽  
Susan Nittrouer

Purpose Child phonologists have long been interested in how tightly speech input constrains the speech production capacities of young children, and the question acquires clinical significance when children with hearing loss are considered. Children with sensorineural hearing loss often show differences in the spectral and temporal structures of their speech production, compared to children with normal hearing. The current study was designed to investigate the extent to which this problem can be explained by signal degradation. Method Ten 5-year-olds with normal hearing were recorded imitating 120 three-syllable nonwords presented in unprocessed form and as noise-vocoded signals. Target segments consisted of fricatives, stops, and vowels. Several measures were made: 2 duration measures (voice onset time and fricative length) and 4 spectral measures involving 2 segments (1st and 3rd moments of fricatives and 1st and 2nd formant frequencies for the point vowels). Results All spectral measures were affected by signal degradation, with vowel production showing the largest effects. Although a change in voice onset time was observed with vocoded signals for /d/, voicing category was not affected. Fricative duration remained constant. Conclusions Results support the hypothesis that quality of the input signal constrains the speech production capacities of young children. Consequently, it can be concluded that the production problems of children with hearing loss—including those with cochlear implants—can be explained to some extent by the degradation in the signal they hear. However, experience with both speech perception and production likely plays a role as well.


Author(s):  
Carson Aho ◽  
Krystal L. Werfel

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine if group differences exist in spelling accuracy or spelling errors between kindergarten children with hearing loss and children with normal hearing loss. Method Participants included 23 kindergarten children with hearing loss and 21 children with normal hearing. All children used spoken English as their primary language, and the children with hearing loss used amplification. Participants completed three single-word spelling assessments, a language assessment, and an oral reading assessment. Spelling was scored holistically and with two linguistic-based scoring systems. Results Children with hearing loss did not differ significantly from children with normal hearing in spelling accuracy or linguistic-based spelling error analyses. Conclusions The current study provides evidence that children with hearing loss in kindergarten do not differ significantly in their spelling errors compared to children with normal hearing, aside from a lower proportion of mental graphemic representation errors. With these data, in combination with previous research conducted, speech-language pathologists can further individualize treatment to focus on these specific error patterns. Additionally, this focus of treatment can help better prepare children with hearing loss for spelling and writing tasks in later grades. Future research should be conducted to determine when in elementary school the differences in spelling errors are initially seen.


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