Fareeha Bukhari.
Effectiveness of Early Intervention on the Language Development among Deaf Children.
Int J Rehab Sci Jan ;06(01):45.

Background: Hearing is the sense through which we perceive sounds. Hearing loss that is bilateral and permanent is estimated to be present in 1.2 per 1000 live child births. Children who are profoundly deaf can hear nothing at all. Enrolment in an effective early intervention program is very important for a child's language development, providing options, language models and communication skills. Objective: To find out the effectiveness of early intervention on the language development among deaf children. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried on, in a time period of 6 months. A sample of 50 deaf children was studied with an age range of 6-12 years. Data was collected from two institutions offering early intervention strategies for Deaf across Lahore. Questionnaire was developed through literature review and expert opinion. Questionnaire comprised of close ended questions regarding receptive and expressive language abilities and early intervention strategies. The data was entered in SPSS-17 software version for statistical analysis. Results: the results showed that 32(64%) children were early identified with deafness at the age less than 1 year, while 24(54%) children were immediately enrolled in early intervention program after early identification of deafness. Another finding showed that 41(82%) parents of deaf children supported the application of early intervention strategies for their children, moreover, 21(42%) children showed credible improvement in expressive language skills and 20(40%)children significant improvement in receptive language skills after the enrollment in early intervention program. Conclusion: The research concluded that when early identification is paired with early intervention program then remarkable development in the receptive and expressive language skills of the child will occur.

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