Performance of implanted children with developmental delays and/or behavioral disorders: retrospective analysis

Abstract Deaf children with additional disabilities are receiving cochlear implants with increasing frequency. Although it has not been the routine policy of the House Ear Institute/House Ear Clinic team to implant children with developmental delays and/or behavioral disorders, a small number of our implanted children have shown evidence of such disabilities, either before or after implantation. Retrospective analysis of the post-implant performance and educational status of 10 of these children shows that most have made only minimal gains in functional oral communication ability, despite appropriate educational and therapy services. Although we believe that some children with developmental delays or disorders may benefit from implantation, these gains may not be tapped using our current metrics of post-implant performance. Furthermore, we have found that the educational programs available to many implanted children with additional needs do not adequately support both implant-facilitated language growth and the development of alternative forms of communication.