Children with Complex Needs and Cochlear Implants- the parent’s perspective

March 13, 2013 - PRLog -- The Ear Foundation, in partnership with Advanced Bionics decided to interview 10 families with complex children, to find out about their experiences and opinions around cochlear implantation. These findings have recently been published in a booklet called “Complex Needs, Complex Issues” which is available from The Ear Foundation.

All of the families interviewed felt that their child had benefitted from cochlear implantation and mentioned key areas where they had seen the most change,

·          families felt that their children were better at communicating following their implants, with increases in both the quantity and quality of their child’s vocalisations.

·          families felt that their children’s listening skills had much improved.

·          families felt that it was now much easier to include their child in the everyday routines of family life and that they were really seeing their children responding to the environment in new ways following implantation

The journey to cochlear implantation had been by no means straightforward for the families however. 6 out of the 10 families talked about experiencing significant delays during the assessment phase, and whilst some of these delays could be seen as necessary ones, because of health and medical issues, just under half of the families interviewed felt that delays seemed to be down to a reticence to implant complex children. Once implanted, the challenges continued, with families struggling to keep coils and processors on children with poor head control.

Education, as always, was a topic the families felt strongly about. 4 of the families expressed concerns about their child’s school, describing the challenges of trying to ensure that special schools managed their child’s learning and listening skills, often with little deaf awareness, little teacher of the Deaf support and poor listening conditions.

The families all appreciated the opportunity to meet up with other families of implanted children with complex needs. The Ear Foundation delivers session for children with additional and complex needs and their families in Nottingham and London