Rehabilitation Methods of Children With Cochlear Implant

The cochlear implant represents the gold standard in the treatment of children with bilateral severe-profound deafness. However, the current Italian and international guidelines do not address the issue of rehabilitation and how the different rehabilitation methods should be applied in relation to the different clinical pictures. The aim of this study is therefore to describe which methods are used today in the rehabilitation of deaf children with cochlear implants followed at the Phoniatrics and Speech Therapy service of the A. Gemelli Polyclinic Foundation. The creation of a questionnaire directed to the speech therapist who treats the specific patient is available in order to collect data concerning the characteristics of the setting and the rehabilitation method in relation to the most applied methodologies, i.e. Auditory-verbal therapy, oral-cognitive therapy, bimodal method and the Drežančić method.

Inclusion criteria

• Children diagnosed with severe-profound hearing loss and cochlear implant carriers followed at the Fondazione Policlinico universitario a. Gemelli in the last 10 years;
• Age >12 months and <10 years

Exclusion criteria

• Children diagnosed with mild to moderate hearing loss without a cochlear implant;
• Age <12 months and >10 years

Outcomes measures

• Describe which methods are used today in the rehabilitation of the deaf child with a cochlear implant
• Describe the prevalence of the different methodologies in relation to the clinical characteristics of the patients.

Endpoints:

-% distribution of the 4 rehabilitation methods: cognitive oralism, verb-tonal, Auditory-Verbal therapy and bimodal

• % distribution of the 4 rehabilitation methods: cognitive oralism, verbal-tonal, Auditory-Verbal Therapy and bimodal in relation to the clinical characteristics of the patients.

Inclusion criteria

• Patients diagnosed with severe to profound hearing loss who underwent cochlear implant placement surgery in the last 10 years;
• Age >12 months and <10 years

Exclusion criteria

• Patients diagnosed with mild to moderate hearing loss without a cochlear implant
• Age <12 months and >10 years