Cochlear implants in children: Development in interaction with the social context

Between 150 and 200 deaf children are born in the Netherlands each year. Deafness has major consequences for these children’s development, as it deprives them of access to spoken language. Since the 1990s, deaf children have been able to have a cochlear implant (CI), which enables them to experience sound. The questions central to this thesis concern the way in which a CI affects children’s development, and the factors that play an important role in this. The framework for this thesis is provided by Bronfenbrenner’s social-ecological model, which proposes that children’s development is influenced by the quality and quantity of their interpersonal interactions. These interactions are influenced indirectly by the environment in which children live. In young children with a CI, language development and the social-emotional development are both delayed compared to their hearing peers. However, it is not yet cl ear how these children will develop in the future. The children who participated in this study were still very young, and a number of them received their CI relatively late. It is possible that they will catch up with hearing children when they are older and have had a longer period of access to spoken languageLEI Universiteit LeidenDevelopmental pathways of social-emotional and cognitive functioning - ou

Detection of child abuse by Dutch preventive child-healthcare doctors and nurses:Has it changed?

Abstract Objective Child maltreatment (i.e., abuse and neglect) is a major cause of child morbidity and death. It is a principal topic in community child-healthcare services yet little is known about the actual detection of suspected cases. We examined trends in this detection, as well as the characteristics of parents and children associated with higher rates of detection. Methods We obtained data on suspected cases of physical maltreatment, as well as of emotional and sexual abuse, from Dutch national samples for children aged 3 ¾ , 5-6 and 8-12 years, for 1997/98 and 2002/03 (response rates 92% and 84%, respectively, about 4,000 children each), as registered by preventive child-healthcare doctors and nurses. We assessed changes in the detection of suspected cases and also assessed the association of suspicion with the background characteristics of parents and children. Results Rates increased slightly over this 5-years period, from .23% to .41%, due to a quadrupling of suspected emotional abuse cases (from .06% to .24%), but without statistical significance. Suspicion of maltreatment was found to be more likely among boys, older children, and children with low-educated fathers and mothers who were younger than 27 years at the child’s birth. Conclusions Professionals in Dutch preventive child-healthcare services detected fewer cases of child maltreatment than might be expected on the basis of prevalence rates of self-reported maltreatment. Detection of other types of child maltreatment thus still needs further improvement in order to reach the goal of better child health.

The developmental trajectory of empathy and its association with early symptoms of psychopathology in children with and without hearing loss

Empathy enables people to share, understand, and show concern for others' emotions. However, this capacity may be more difficult to acquire for children with hearing loss, due to limited social access, and the effect of hearing on empathic maturation has been unexplored. This four-wave longitudinal study investigated the development of empathy in children with and without hearing loss, and how this development is associated with early symptoms of psychopathology. Seventy-one children with hearing loss and cochlear implants (CI), and 272 typically-hearing (TH) children, participated (aged 1-5 years at Time 1). Parents rated their children's empathic skills (affective empathy, attention to others' emotions, prosocial actions, and emotion acknowledgment) and psychopathological symptoms (internalizing and externalizing behaviors). Children with CI and TH children were rated similarly on most of the empathic skills. Yet, fewer prosocial actions were reported in children with CI than in TH children. In both groups, affective empathy decreased with age, while prosocial actions and emotion acknowledgment increased with age and stabilized when children entered primary schools. Attention to emotions increased with age in children with CI, yet remained stable in TH children. Moreover, higher levels of affective empathy, lower levels of emotion acknowledgment, and a larger increase in attention to emotions over time were associated with more psychopathological symptoms in both groups. These findings highlight the importance of social access from which children with CI can learn to process others' emotions more adaptively. Notably, interventions for psychopathology that tackle empathic responses may be beneficial for both groups, alike.Otorhinolaryngolog

Continuous admission to primary school and mental health problems

Background: Younger children in a school class have higher rates of mental health problems if admission to primary school occurs once a year. This study examines whether this relative age effect also occurs if children are admitted to school continuously throughout the year. Methods: We assessed mental health problems based on parent-reports (using the Child Behavior Checklist, CBCL) and on professional assessments, among two Dutch national samples of in total 12,221 children aged 5-15 years (response rate: 86.9%). Results: At ages 5-6, we found a higher occurrence of mental health problems in relatively young children, both for mean CBCL scores (p = 0.017) and for problems assessed by child health professionals (p < 0.0001). At ages 7-15, differences by relative age did not reach statistical significance. Conclusion: Continuous admission to primary school does not prevent mental health problems among young children, but may do so at older ages. Its potential for the prevention of mental problems deserves further study

Cochlear implants in children: Development in interaction with the social context

Between 150 and 200 deaf children are born in the Netherlands each year. Deafness has major consequences for these children’s development, as it deprives them of access to spoken language. Since the 1990s, deaf children have been able to have a cochlear implant (CI), which enables them to experience sound. The questions central to this thesis concern the way in which a CI affects children’s development, and the factors that play an important role in this. The framework for this thesis is provided by Bronfenbrenner’s social-ecological model, which proposes that children’s development is influenced by the quality and quantity of their interpersonal interactions. These interactions are influenced indirectly by the environment in which children live. In young children with a CI, language development and the social-emotional development are both delayed compared to their hearing peers. However, it is not yet cl ear how these children will develop in the future. The children who participated in this study were still very young, and a number of them received their CI relatively late. It is possible that they will catch up with hearing children when they are older and have had a longer period of access to spoken language</p

Happy faces, sad faces: emotion understanding in toddlers and preschoolers with language impairments

Pathways through Adolescenc

Does Hearing Lead to Understanding? Theory of Mind in Toddlers and Preschoolers With Cochlear Implants

Disorders of the head and nec