Maltese children with a hearing impairment : analysis of the current situation and its impact on the quality of life of parents

Understanding the effect that a diagnosis of a childhood hearing loss has on parents would help professionals adopt an approach which diminishes parents’ possible negative feelings and concerns. A sample of parents of children with hearing impairment was interviewed to document demographic data related to hearing loss in Maltese children. The present study also attempted to analyse the effect of hearing loss on the parents’ wellbeing. Parents of 23 children with a hearing loss and parents of eight children without a hearing loss participated in the study. Structured face-to-face interviews were carried out with both groups of parents. A self-devised questionnaire was used with parents of children with hearing impairment to collect information about several factors related to the hearing loss. This included documentation of the different types, degrees and causes of hearing loss as well as the ages of suspicion, diagnosis and amplification of children with a hearing loss. The World Health Organisation Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire (World Health Organisation [WHO], 1998) was then used with both groups of parents to obtain a quality of life profile in four domains: physical health, psychological health, social relationships and environment. Slight quality of life differences, which were not statistically significant, were noticed between parents of children with a hearing loss and parents of children without a hearing loss. Quality of life scores were marginally higher for parents whose gap between the day of diagnosis and the interview date was more than 24 months, when compared to parents whose gap was 24 months or less. These findings extend the limited data on the effect of hearing loss on parents’ quality of life in the Maltese context. More intensive support may be indicated for parents of children with hearing impairment, particularly in the initial stages following a diagnosis of a hearing loss. Support would help parents better understand and accept their child’s hearing impairment.peer-reviewe

The 4.2 ka event and the end of the Maltese “Temple Period”

The small size and relatively challenging environmental conditions of the semi-isolated Maltese archipelago mean that the area offers an important case study of societal change and human-environment interactions. Following an initial phase of Neolithic settlement, the “Temple Period” in Malta began ∼5.8 thousand years ago (ka), and came to a seemingly abrupt end ∼4.3 ka, and was followed by Bronze Age societies with radically different material culture. Various ideas concerning the reasons for the end of the Temple Period have been expressed. These range from climate change, to invasion, to social conflict resulting from the development of a powerful “priesthood.” Here, we explore the idea that the end of the Temple Period relates to the 4.2 ka event. The 4.2 ka event has been linked with several examples of significant societal change around the Mediterranean, such as the end of the Old Kingdom in Egypt, yet its character and relevance have been debated. The Maltese example offers a fascinating case study for understanding issues such as chronological uncertainty, disentangling cause and effect when several different processes are involved, and the role of abrupt environmental change in impacting human societies. Ultimately, it is suggested that the 4.2ka event may have played a role in the end of the Temple Period, but that other factors seemingly played a large, and possibly predominant, role. As well as our chronological modelling indicating the decline of Temple Period society in the centuries before the 4.2 ka event, we highlight the possible significance of other factors such as a plague epidemic.peer-reviewe

A Maltese adaptation of the Boston Naming Test: A shortened version

The Boston Naming Test (BNT) is the most widely used naming test worldwide in research and clinical settings. This study aimed to develop a method for adapting the BNT to suit different linguistic and cultural characteristics using the example of Maltese in a bilingual context. In addition, it investigated the effects in Malta of age and level of education on naming performance. The words of the BNT were first translated into Maltese. The test was then piloted to establish target and alternative responses. Naming performance data were later collected from individuals of different ages and levels of education. Only 38 BNT items had at least 70% name agreement. Main effects of age and education were found. A Maltese adaptation was proposed using 38 items and lenient scoring. Similar procedures may be used in other bilingual populations. The study suggests that normative data should be stratified according to age and education

Research Report: Usefulness of investigating error profiles in diagnosis of naming impairments

Background: Word-retrieval difficulties are commonly experienced by people with aphasia (PwA) and also by typically ageing persons. Differentiation between true naming impairments and naming difficulties found in healthy persons may, therefore, be challenging. Aims: To investigate the extent to which the Maltese adaptation of the Boston Naming Test (BNT) can identify people with lexical retrieval difficulties and to differentiate them from people with unimpaired word finding. Methods & Procedures: Naming performance of a group of PwA was compared with the performance of a control group. Performance on theMaltese adaptation of the BNT was investigated in terms of scores, range of scores and error profiles of the two groups. Outcomes & Results: All PwA scored below the mean score of the controls, indicating that persons who scored above the mean score may be considered as unimpaired. However, a number of the controls obtained very low scores that overlapped with the scores obtained by the PwA. This indicated that scores alone cannot be used to differentiate between impaired and unimpaired people. Some types of errors were only produced by people with impaired naming, and did not appear at all in error profiles of unimpaired individuals. Conclusions & Implications: Mild–moderate anomic impairments may be missed if naming impairment is assessed and diagnosed using a cut-off score. In order to differentiate between people with impaired and unimpaired naming, it is necessary to look at error profiles, apart from the number of errors, as the presence of atypical errors may be an important indicator of naming impairments

Developing an International Survey to Investigate the Current Practices and Challenges Faced by Speech and Language Pathologists (SLPs) Working with Bi/Multi-lingual Clients with Aphasia

COST project: Collaboration of Aphasia Trialist

Global perspectives on speech and language therapy training and practices for multilingual people with aphasia

COST project: Collaboration of Aphasia Trialist