An examination of behavior problems of children with hearing loss in preschool and primary school period

In this study, behavioral problems of children who had hearing loss, autism spectrum disorder and went through normal development during pre-school and primary school periods were examined. The research was conducted through a quantitative a causal comparative and relational research model. Participants of the study consisted of 193 teachers of 273 children. 84 of these children were with hearing los, 103 of them were normally developing and 86 of these children were with autism spectrum disorder. The data collection tools consisted of "Teacher Information Form For 6-18-Year-Old Children and Young Adults (TRF)" and "Social Skill Rating System-Teacher Form (SSRS-TF)". The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 22.0. In the findings of the study, it was found that scores of behavior problems measured by the TRF and SSRS scales showed significant differences according to developmental characteristics of children. While the children with hearing loss and normal development did not differ significantly scores of TRF scale, the scores of children with autism spectrum disorder were significantly higher than those of both groups. The mean scores of SSRS were found to differ statistically significantly among all three developmental groups (Autism spectrum disorder > Normal development > Hearing loss). Moreover, girls' scores are lower than boys' scores. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between behavior problems scores of the age of onset of hearing aids and cochlear implant surgery and these variables had significant contributions at various degrees to interpret the scores. Findings of this study, early intervention programs, including early diagnosis and hearing aids, helps the children with hearing loss to develop their communication skills and reduce problem behaviors. As a result, early diagnosis, age of using hearing aid, familiy education and early special education were found to be very important in this study.