Engagement of Children who are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Attending Mainstream Schools.

This study compared the observed and the self-reported engagement of 16 students who are Deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) attending mainstream schools to that of matched controls with typical hearing. Observed engagement was measured through observations in the classroom setting using the Mainstream Version of the Code for Instructional Structure and Student Academic Reponses. Self-reported engagement was measured using the Classroom Participation Questionnaire.

Academic Outcomes 2 Years After Working Memory Training for Children With Low Working Memory: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Working memory training may help children with attention and learning difficulties, but robust evidence from population-level randomized controlled clinical trials is lacking.

Objective: To test whether a computerized adaptive working memory intervention program improves long-term academic outcomes of children 6 to 7 years of age with low working memory compared with usual classroom teaching.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Population-based randomized controlled clinical trial of first graders from 44 schools in Melbourne, Australia, who underwent a verbal and visuospatial working memory screening.

Population Outcomes of Three Approaches to Detection of Congenital Hearing Loss.

Background: Universal newborn hearing screening was implemented worldwide largely on modeled, not measured, long-term benefits. Comparative quantification of population benefits would justify its high cost.

Methods: Natural experiment comparing 3 population approaches to detecting bilateral congenital hearing loss (>25 dB, better ear) in Australian states with similar demographics and services: (1) universal newborn hearing screening, New South Wales 2003-2005, n = 69; (2) Risk factor screening (neonatal intensive care screening + universal risk factor referral), Victoria 2003-2005, n = 65; and (3) largely opportunistic detection, Victoria 1991-1993, n = 86.

The cost-effectiveness of universal newborn screening for bilateral permanent congenital hearing impairment: systematic review.

Objective: Universal newborn hearing screening for bilateral permanent congenital hearing impairment is standard practice in many developed economies, but until there is clear evidence of cost-effectiveness, it remains a controversial use of limited health care resources. We conducted a formal systematic review of studies of newborn hearing screening that considered both costs and outcomes to produce a summary of the available evidence and to determine whether there was a need for further research.

Methods: A search was conducted of medical and nursing databases and gray literature websites by the use of multiple keywords.

Can improving working memory prevent academic difficulties? A school based randomised controlled trial.

Background: Low academic achievement is common and is associated with adverse outcomes such as grade repetition, behavioural disorders and unemployment. The ability to accurately identify these children and intervene before they experience academic failure would be a major advance over the current 'wait to fail' model. Recent research suggests that a possible modifiable factor for low academic achievement is working memory, the ability to temporarily store and manipulate information in a 'mental workspace'.

Slight-mild sensorineural hearing loss in children: audiometric, clinical, and risk factor profiles.

Objectives: Slight or mild hearing loss has been posited as a factor affecting speech, language, learning, and academic outcomes, but the risk factors for slight-mild sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) have not been ascertained. The two specific aims for this research were (1) to describe the audiometric and clinical characteristics of children identified with slight-mild bilateral SNHL and (2) to compare children with slight-mild SNHL with those with normal hearing (NH) with respect to potential risk factors for congenital or acquired for hearing loss.

Design: A cross-sectional cluster sample survey of 6581 children enrolled in years 1 and 5 of Australian elementary school was completed.

Spoken language development in oral preschool children with permanent childhood deafness.

This article documented spoken language outcomes for preschool children with hearing loss and examined the relationships between language abilities and characteristics of children such as degree of hearing loss, cognitive abilities, age at entry to early intervention, and parent involvement in children's intervention programs. Participants were evaluated using a combination of the Child Development Inventory, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and the Preschool Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals depending on their age at the time of assessment. Maternal education, cognitive ability, and family involvement were also measured.

Comparison of auditory steady-state responses and tone-burst auditory brainstem responses in normal babies.

Objective: To follow the development of tone-burst auditory brainstem response (TB-ABR) and auditory steady-state response (ASSR) thresholds in a group of normal babies through the first 6 wk of life.

Design: This longitudinal study involved assessment at four data-collection points. TB-ABR and ASSR thresholds to 500-Hz and 4-kHz stimuli were established in 17 full-term subjects at 0, 2, 4, and 6 wk of age.

Slight/mild sensorineural hearing loss in children.

Objective: The goal was to determine the prevalence and effects of slight/mild bilateral sensorineural hearing loss among children in elementary school.

Methods: A cross-sectional, cluster-sample survey of 6581 children (response: 85%; grade 1: n = 3367; grade 5: n = 3214) in 89 schools in Melbourne, Australia, was performed. Slight/mild bilateral sensorineural hearing loss was defined as a low-frequency pure-tone average across 0.

The distraction test: the last word?

Objective: Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS) programmes have been widely implemented, but their costs, benefits and long-term logistics remain to be clearly defined. There are few rigorous evaluations of alternative strategies. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of the distraction test component of the two-tiered Victorian Infant Hearing Screening Program (VIHSP).

Inclusion of students who are deaf or hard of hearing in government schools in new South wales, australia: development and implementation of a policy.

The inclusion of students who are deaf or hard of hearing in Department of Education and Training (government) schools in the state of New South Wales, Australia, is supported through a policy known as the Special Education Policy (NSW Department of School Education, 1993). The policy is operational for all students with disabilities, learning difficulties, or behavior disorders, regardless of their educational provision. This article focuses on how the policy and continuum of services have developed and the attitudes of stakeholders toward both policy and practice.

Outcomes of children with mild-profound congenital hearing loss at 7 to 8 years: a population study.

Objectives: Improved long-term outcomes of hearing loss at a population level is the underlying reason for interventions such as newborn hearing screening programs. Therefore, high-quality population surveys are needed for older children across the spectrum of hearing losses that might be detected by such programs, against which to assess future secular improvements. Measured outcomes should cover a broad range of parameters, including health-related quality of life.

Epidemiology of congenital hearing loss in Victoria, Australia.

The aim of this study was to report the incidence, prevalence and clinical characteristics of congenital hearing loss sufficient to require hearing aid fitting in the first 6 years of life for the 1993 birth cohort of the state of Victoria (population 4.4 million), Australia. In 1993, 64,116 infants born in the state of Victoria survived the neonatal period.

The auditory steady-state response: clinical observations and applications in infants and children.

Two studies illustrate the use of the auditory steady-state response (ASSR) in the pediatric clinical audiology setting. A protocol for estimating bone-conduction thresholds from ASSR was developed. Bone-conducted narrow-band noise was used to mask the ASSR for a 1.

The auditory steady-state response: full-term and premature neonates.

Two studies were aimed at developing the auditory steady-state response (ASSR) for universal newborn hearing screening. First, neonates who had passed auditory brainstem response, transient evoked otoacoustic emission, and distortion-product otoacoustic emission tests were also tested with ASSRs using modulated tones that varied in frequency and level. Pass rates were highest (> 90%) for amplitude-modulated tones presented at levels > or = 69 dB SPL.

Prediction of hearing threshold in infants using auditory steady-state evoked potentials.

This retrospective study examines the relationship between auditory steady-state evoked potential (ASSEP) thresholds determined in infancy and subsequently obtained behavioral hearing levels in children with normal hearing or varying degrees of sensorineural hearing loss. Overall, the results from 211 subjects showed that the two test techniques were highly correlated, with Pearson r values exceeding .95 at each of the audiometric test frequencies between 500 and 4000 Hz.