Second Data Camps Are Completed!!
We have now completed our second set of Data Camps. We have now had everyone who is continuing on with our study out to Columbus. In fact, we are already busy getting ready to bring back the campers who were here in 2010!
Each camp lasted two days, during which time we collected data on a number of dependent measures. We used standard clinical tools to gauge development in behavior, social skills, adaptive functioning, and language. In the area of language we looked at vocabulary, early reading, auditory comprehension, and expressive abilities. Experimental methods were used to examine speech perception, phonological awareness, and working memory.
The children who attended varied in their histories of prostheses and intervention strategies. All children had participated in the first phase of this project, so we have ample longitudinal data on everyone. We look forward to analyzing these data during the next few months, and having interesting results to start presenting and publishing in the very near future!
The children coming back next summer will include some of our 4th graders and we are excited that our longitudinal study has followed them from infancy to 4th grade!
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The results of the study are available as a book, now out from Plural Publishing. Click on the book image or click here for a description of the book or to purchase your copy. |
About the Study
Through early diagnosis, appropriate listening aids, and timely
intervention, most children can acquire the spoken language skills they will
need to succeed later in school and participate fully in society. But
professionals disagree about what constitutes the "best" method of helping
children acquire spoken language. That's why the National Institutes of Health -
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIH-NIDCD) decided
to support research on outcomes for infants and toddlers diagnosed with
permanent hearing loss.
"Ongoing research needs to be conducted so that we can match the child to the methodology sooner. At the present time it is more trial and error." David Luterman November 16, 2004 The ASHA Leader |
Dr. Susan Nittrouer, herself the parent of a child with hearing loss, is overseeing a grant funded by the NIH-NIDCD to study outcomes. The grant is titled Early Development of Children with Hearing Loss (EDCHL).