Our Criteria for Selecting Pediatric Candidates for Cochlear Implantation, and Methodology of Language Education for the Candidates

• Published in: AUDIOLOGY JAPAN Vol. 49; no. 2; pp. 178 - 183
• Main Authors: Tanaka, Yoshisato, Ashino, Satoko, Koyama, Yumi, Harigai, Shigeko, Kumakawa, Kozo, Asano, Kimiko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Audiological Society 2006
• ISSN: 0303-8106; 1883-7301
• DOI: 10.4295/audiology.49.178

Prior to selecting young deaf children as candidates for cochlear implantation in our clinic, we recommend to that parents of a deaf child use home signs, signed Japanese and manual codes of Japanese in everyday communication with their deaf child in addition to hearing aids in order to facilitate their child's language development. According to our top-down approach to auro-oral language education, increases in vocabulary by means of signed Japanese or manual codes of Japanese are easily transformed to speaking, even though cochlear implantation is performed in deaf children at higher ages, if residual hearing has been actively used with hearing aids. During the period from April 2002 to May 2005 24 children two to five years old with hearing loss over 100dB received cochlear implants. The tentative conclusions drawn from the findings obtained in the 24 children are as follows: 1. To obtain the desired results of language education it is important to establish close relations among the parents, the speech therapist, the surgeon, and the teacher for the deaf, with a coordinator at the center. 2. Careful use of manual communication including gestures, signed Japanese, manual codes of Japanese prior to cochlear implantation does not interfere with the postoperative development of spoken Japanese. Instead facilitating language development by means of signed language can be said to be advantageous for the development of postoperative spoken language.