Lecture 11 - Children with Sensory Deficits

Question 1

What are some causes of hearing loss?

Answer 1

-otitis media: inflammation in the middle ear
-congenital causes, ex. autosomal dominant hearing loss, autosomal recessive hearing loss, prenatal infections, illnesses, and toxins
-acquired hearing loss, ex. infections, ototoxic drugs, meningitis, measles, encephalitis, chicken
pox, influenza, mumps, head injury, noise exposure

Question 2

What are the 3 types of hearing loss?

Answer 2

1. Conductive hearing loss
   - Occurs when sound is not conducted efficiently through the outer ear canal to the eardrum and the ossicles of the middle ear
2. Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL)
   - Occurs when there is damage to the inner ear (cochlea), or to the nerve pathways from the inner ear to the brain
3. Mixed hearing loss
   - Sometimes occurs in combination with SNHL, damage to the outer or middle ear and the inner ear or auditory nerve

Question 3

What percent of deaf children are prelingually deaf?

Answer 3

95% of all deaf children are prelingually deaf

Question 4

Explain: the impact of deafness on neuropsychological

performance

Answer 4

30-40% of those who are deaf or hard of hearing have
additional disabilities resulting from the same condition,
disease, or accident that caused the hearing loss

Question 5

Define: cochlear implant

Answer 5

a surgically implanted electronic device
that can help provide a sense of sound to a person
who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing
-works by directly stimulating any functioning auditory
nerves inside the cochlea with electrical impulses
-postimplantation therapy is required

Question 6

Describe a prime candidate for a cochlear implant.

Answer 6

• having severe to profound sensorineural hearing impairment in both ears
• having a functioning auditory nerve
• having lived a short amount of time without hearing
• in the case of infants and young children, having a family willing to work toward speech and language skills with therapy
• living in or desiring to live in the “hearing world”

Question 7

What percent o hearing parents of deaf children do not know sign language

Answer 7

88% of hearing parents of deaf children do not know sign language
-these families become accustomed to not communicating

Question 8

Sloman et al (1993): Why are families unable to resolve communication issues with their deaf child by learning sign language?

Answer 8

the dysfunctional communication in deaf member families is maintained by unresolved grieving

Question 9

Define: legal blindness

Answer 9

central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with correction, or a field of vision no greater than 20 degrees

Question 10

What is the most common cause and age of onset of child blindness?

Answer 10

• congenital causes account for 2/3 of blind children

- for more than 3/4 of affected children the age of onset is less than one year of age

Question 11

What are some common causes of blindness in children?

Answer 11

• prenatal influences: 50%
• retrolental fibroplasia (too much oxygen): 24%
• accidental injury: 26%