Vocabulário expressivo em crianças usuárias de implante coclear

Impact of paediatric cochlear implantation on family life: a conceptual framework informed by parents

PURPOSE

While the impact of paediatric cochlear implantation on parents and siblings are recognised, limited evidence exists regarding the effect of paediatric cochlear implantation on the entire family life (e.g., routine interactions, family activities). This study aimed to describe the impact of paediatric cochlear implantation on family life as perceived by parents, using concept mapping.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Parents of paediatric cochlear implant (CI) recipients (n = 29) participated in this concept mapping study to generate, group, and rate statements regarding the impact of paediatric cochlear implantation on family life.

RESULTS

In total, 99 unique statements described the impact of paediatric cochlear implantation on family life. The concept map revealed six concepts, namely (i) Financial Outlay and Supports; (ii) Education and Therapy; (iii) Responsibilities and Sacrifices; (iv) Extended Family and Community; (v) Spouses and Siblings and (vi) Achievements and Enrichments.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights the multiple areas of family life affected by paediatric cochlear implantation. To improve patient-and-family-centered care, these factors must be considered during pre-operative and successive counselling of paediatric CI recipients and their families.

Influencing variables in the quality of life of children with cochlear implants: a systematic review

PURPOSE

To verify how the quality of life of children with cochlear implant was evaluated in published studies and to critically analyze which were the influencing variables.

RESEARCH STRATEGY

Research guided by PRISMA recommendations. The guiding question was elaborated based on the PICO strategy, being: "Which variables are considered as influencers on the quality of life of children with cochlear implants?" The selected descriptors were cochlear implants, cochlear implants, quality of life, child and their synonyms, in the Portuguese, English and Spanish languages. We have identified indexed studies in the databases: Pubmed / MEDLINE, LILACS, Scopus, SciELO, Embase, EBSCO / CINAHL and Web of Science.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Selected studies were selected, with levels of scientific evidence from 1 to 4, published in the Portuguese, English and Spanish languages, from 2009 to 2018. Data analysis: initially the titles of all the studies, followed by summaries and full reading of the most relevant texts.

RESULTS

After the rigorous analysis of the 1062 articles, eight were classified as containing the necessary answers to the guiding question of research. The selected studies were published between 2009 and 2016, classified as evidence level 2a and 4, with a sample of between 10 and 259 children and between the ages of 18 months and 18 years.

CONCLUSION

The influencing factors that correlated with the quality of life of children with cochlear implants were early implantation, use of the electronic device, hearing skills and language skills.

Adaptation of the Brazilian Functional Auditory Performance Indicators - Short Version

PURPOSE

To adapt the Brazilian Functional Auditory Performance Indicators protocol to a short version including the production of material and an application manual.

METHODS

Methodological, descriptive, cross-sectional study with a quantitative and qualitative approach conducted with seven speech-language therapists who applied the protocol to 34 children with hearing loss and their guardians. The analysis of content validity and the instrument reliability evaluated the semantic equivalence, analysis of satisfaction of speech therapists, and statistical tests of Cronbach's Alpha and Kappa coefficient.

RESULTS

The short version, called FAPI-r, was adapted considering coefficients that indicate internal consistency and almost perfect inter-evaluator agreement. Speech-language therapists reported satisfaction with the instrument and stated that the manual facilitates the understanding of the test application. However, there was no agreement between the assessment of speech-language therapists and the answers of families, indicating a need for a greater insertion of families in the therapeutic scenario.

CONCLUSION

The adapted FAPI-r has validity and reliability, promising future developments for research and clinical performance in the population of hard of hearing children.

Vocabulary assessment in Brazilian children: a systematic review with three instruments

PURPOSE

To investigate, through a systematic review, how three assessment instruments for children's vocabulary (Test of Childhood language ABFW, Expressive Vocabulary Test - EVT, and Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - PPVT) have been used in Brazilian research, verifying its purposes of uses and the main results of the researches.

RESEARCH STRATEGY

This review was organized in three studies. Study 1 referred to the process of a priori search and Study 2 referred to the a posteriori search. We searched for three Brazilian's database (CAPES, SciELO, and PePSIC).

SELECTION CRITERIA

For Study 1, we selected empirical studies containing research data with one of the three-targeted tests, using typically developing school children (7 to 10 years old). For Study 2, we enlarged the age range for pre-school and extended the search to non-typically developing children.

DATA ANALYSIS

The selected articles were fully read and synthesized in a table containing the study's aims, the age range of the sample, instrument, research design, main results, and journal.

RESULTS

We found out 24 articles, most of which from the speech-language therapy area. The results indicated the predominance of cross-sectional and observational studies, aiming to delineate the cognitive profile of children with some developmental disturbance, with or without control groups. None of the researches conducted a psychometric inquiry of the instruments.

CONCLUSION

In Brazil, it is necessary to carry out research focusing on the psychometric inquiry of instruments for evaluating the vocabulary in pre-school and school-age children.

Factors influencing the quality of life of children with cochlear implants

Introduction

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Language evaluation in children with pre-lingual hearing loss and cochlear implant

Introduction

The cochlear implant is an effective device for children with severe and/or profound prelingual hearing loss, since it provides considerable improvement in oral language acquisition through the auditory pathway. The use of a cochlear implant contributes to the development of auditory perception, favoring the acquisition of the linguistic processes related to communication skills, which might have a positive effect on other areas of development.

Objective

The aim of this study was to verify the performance of children using cochlear implants for expressive and receptive oral language.

Methods

This was a prospective cross-sectional study that used the following tests: Child language test in the phonology, vocabulary, fluency and pragmatics areas, and the Peabody picture vocabulary test. Thirty children participated in this study, of both genders, aged between 36 and 72 months, with severe and/or profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, without other impairments and users of unilateral cochlear implant with full electrode insertion for a minimum of 12 months.

Results

The longer duration of the cochlear implant use, the younger age at surgery and the better performance in the auditory perception of speech influenced the performance in expressive and receptive oral language. Even though when compared to the normative language acquisition process, the results showed that these children had patterns of linguistic skills that are below their chronological age; the results indicate that these children are developing expressive and receptive oral language skills, and this is the outcome that should be taken into account in this study.

Conclusion

The longer duration of the cochlear implant use, the younger age at surgery and the better performance in the auditory perception of speech influenced the performance in expressive and receptive oral language skills, but not in all the studied semantic categories.