Comparison of treatment and education of hearing impaired children from low-income families

Aim: This study was planned to compare the treatment and education of hearing-impaired children from low-income families and to determine the factors that could be effective. In the study, to determine the treatment and education levels of the hearing impaired and hearing impaired children in the age group of 9-17 who are in good financial situation, the age and gender of the children in both groups, the education level of the parents, the degree of hearing impairment, the device usage status, the age of starting education, This study was carried out in order to reveal whether variables such as family income level, weekly lesson hours of the child make a difference in the education level and the treatment process. Method: Hearing impaired children attending the Rehabilitation Center in Istanbul province participated in the study. Within the scope of the study, a total of 20 children, including 10 girls and 10 boys, were screened. In this study, 5 girls and 5 boys were selected from the children whose education hours were high and the remaining 5 girls and 5 boys whose education hours were fixed. In the study, "Voluntary Consent Form for Instructor Teachers" and "Voluntary Consent Form for Parents" were used. Children with the same degree of hearing loss (mild-moderate-severe) participated in the study. The answers given to the questionnaire were evaluated on a 7 point scale and higher scores showed more satisfaction. Findings: Statistically significant differences were found in areas such as language development, social development, and motor development between children who took 8 hours of lessons and those who took more than 8 hours of lessons. In this study, it was determined that the additional lessons taken had a great effect on the developmental characteristics of the children, and the more frequent lesson hours had a positive effect especially on the language development of children. Conclusion: As a result of this research; With the questionnaires applied to the family and teachers, it is concluded that the level of education of hearing-impaired children, who have standard lesson hours, is lower than the hearing-impaired children who take additional lessons, and that the additional lessons taken are close to the level of development of the hearing-impaired children with their normal hearing peers. It has been found out that increasing the lesson hours of children creates positive results in the treatment and education process.