Social inclusion of children with cochlear implants

In the last few decades the progress of science has enabled the development of cochlear implant, which is suitable for persons who have defected inner ear, so hearing amplification is no longer enough for them. It allows them to perceive sound and develop verbal language, which provide better quality of life. Because of that, around the world and also in Slovenia, more and more children with cochlear implants are being placed in mainstream school settings. Recently, researchers are paying more attention to the social aspect of their integration. In Slovenia, there hasn't been a study about social inclusion of primary school children with cochlear implants made yet, but there were, however, similar studies made abroad. Results of these studies differ – some were positive in terms of social inclusion of children with cochlear implants and the others showed greater risk for difficulties in their social integration. There is no definite answer to the question about social inclusion of children with cochlear implants in mainstream school settings, according to researches so far. Therefore, we decided to create a survey about social inclusion based on foreign literature and explore the issue in Slovenia. In our research we included 20 children with cochlear implants, who attend mainstream schools all around Slovenia, and a matching group of hearing children, which represented the control group. We formed a survey for checking social inclusion, which included 8 sets of questions, to which children were answering on a three-level rating scale. These sets refer to the areas, which in our opinion influence social inclusion. These are: teacher's attitude, attitude of classmates, wellbeing at school, self-perception, friendship, exclusion, wellbeing in hometown and perception of cochlear implant and deafness. Results showed no significant differences in social inclusion of children with cochlear implants, comparing to control group of hearing children. Both showed relatively good social inclusion, thus we concluded that integration of children with cochlear implants is appropriate. Children with cochlear implants showed more difficulties in the area of friendship in comparison with control group, but on the other hand, better results in the area of wellbeing at school and also in the area of exclusion. The results also showed that there are no significant differences in social inclusion of children, who were implanted early or later in their life.