Restore hearing through the icochlear implantation for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can help them understand spoken language and improve social interactions, according to a study of the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. The study reported the long-term outcomes of the largest number of children with ASD who received a cochlear implant, with a mean follow-up of 10.5 years.
The results of the study have been published in the scientific journal Otology & Neurotology.
Cochlear implantation in deaf ASD children: here are all the benefits
“Our findings add to the growing body of evidence that cochlear implantation clearly benefits deaf children with autism spectrum disorder.”, the senior author said Nancy Young, MD, medical director of audiology and cochlear implant programs at Lurie Children’s and professor of pediatric otolaryngology at Northwestern Faculty of Medicine of the Feinberg University.
“Better hearing provides access to spoken language which can improve their cognitive and communicative potential, as well as helping these children to engage more with their familiesAnd”.
Most (73%) of the children in the study used their cochlear implant consistently throughout the day, of which 45% developed some understanding of words spoken only by hearing (no visual cues). Forty-five percent also used the spoken language to some extent as part of their overall communication.
86% were reported by parents for improving social engagement after implantation. Responding to a survey, one parent reported: “Without his implant, he was stuck in his own little world, no sound, no eye contact with others. The plant has brought out its personality “.
According to recent estimates, one in 88 children in the United States has ASD, a complex developmental disorder characterized by impaired communication and social interaction . 25 to 30 percent of children with normal hearing with ASD do not develop spoken language as a means of communication.
Therefore, children with ASD in combination with profound hearing loss have two conditions that can limit the development of spoken language. Unsurprisingly, the children in this study usually developed understanding and use of spoken language more slowly than the implanted children without ASD.
Children with ASD have been reported to have a higher prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) than children without ASD. Conversely, children with SNHL have been reported to have a higher rate of ASD than those with normal hearing.
Dr Young noted that “The relationship between these two diagnoses for some of these babies may be due to congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV), an infection that begins in the developing fetus and is often not recognized after birth. It can cause hearing loss and is associated with a higher incidence of ASD ”.
Most of the children in the study were diagnosed with ASD after cochlear implantation. Diagnosis after implantation is likely related to the young age at which most received the implant and to the greater difficulty in diagnosing ASD when significant hearing loss is present.
“Understanding the range of outcomes in this population is important for advising parents and educators to ensure these children receive adequate support and services.“, he has declared Beth Tournis, AuD, audiologist at Lurie Children’s and co-author of the study. Lurie’s Children’s Cochlear Implant Program is one of the largest and most experienced in the world.
Research at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago is conducted through the Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute. The Manne Research Institute is focused on improving children’s health, transforming pediatric medicine and ensuring a healthier future through the relentless pursuit of knowledge.
Lurie Children’s is ranked as one of the nation’s top children’s hospitals by US News & World Report. It is the pediatric training ground for Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Last year, the hospital served more than 220,000 children from 48 states and 49 countries.
The prevalence of autism is higher in deaf people than in hearing people. However, conditions that mimic autism associated with speech deprivation are even higher. Additionally, many autistic people seem to have an uncomfortable relationship with sound.
The causes of autism are still not fully understood. Although a genetic link has been confirmed, causal associations also exist between neurological vulnerability and autism. Where the cause of deafness threatens the functional integrity of the brain (eg, CMV, meningitis, rubella, prematurity, and some syndromic causes of deafness) it is not surprising to find that autism rates rise. As survival rates for children with these problems increase, the percentage of deaf people with autism will also increase.
Misdiagnosis is more common than in an equivalent hearing population (Austen, Gray & Carney, 2007). However, even for physicians experienced in working with deaf people, an accurate diagnosis of autism is made difficult by the developmental characteristics of many deaf people that result in conditions that can create an autism-like presentation.
Until around the time children are in elementary school, the brain is ready to develop sophisticated, abstract, and social language. Without a rich linguistic environment in these early years, linguistic deprivation (permanently stunted language) is possible. This is common in deaf people and is particularly and largely preventable.
Gregory, Bishop and Sheldon they studied deaf children and their families and found that 20% of deaf children were unable, despite normal non-verbal IQ, to be interviewed in both speech and signs due to poor language skills. Little has improved since this research.
Without language it is difficult to achieve the degree of social interaction to know the mental states of other people and how their behavior can be related to them. This can result in a poor theory of mind (ToM). A delay in the acquisition of ToM is linked to poor language acquisition.
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