Parents/caregivers' views on early intervention services in audiology in Johannesburg.

[摘要] Early identification of hearing loss followed by a timely and effective interventionprogramme for children with hearing loss is necessary to minimise the negative effects ofhearing loss on the development of cognition, psychosocial and verbal communication skills.Such early intervention programmes need to be multidisciplinary, technologically sound andmost important, it should take cognisance of the specific context (community, country) inwhich the child and family function. The main aim of this study is to obtain accurate andreliable baseline information regarding current status of the early intervention process forchildren with hearing loss in Johannesburg, a Metropolitan City in a developing country.Self-administered questionnaires were handed out to obtain information from 19 hearingimpaired childrens’ parents regarding the ages of suspicion of hearing loss, diagnosis andcommencement of aural habilitation. The nature of diagnosis and the management of thesechildren are also described. The findings indicate that children in the study were diagnosedand began habilitation late (mean age 24 months and 36months respectively) and that themanagement process is fragmented. The strengths in the current identification and follow-upprocess namely, parental involvement and established early intervention service structure arehighlighted. Parents’ perceptions of the success and failures of the early intervention serviceswere resolved.Key words: childhood hearing loss, parents/caregivers views, age of diagnosis, age ofintervention, developing country

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand