Children with Cochlear Implant - Educational Practice of Parents in the Rehabilitation Process

In the year 2000 in the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria and the German-speaking regions of Switzerland some 350 prelingually deafened children of predominantly German-speaking parents were provided with cochlear implants. While the operations were for the most part successful, a post-operative followup of the results was lacking. Several questions remained to be answered. How were the children coping with the High-Tech device? Did they receive qualified sup,port? What was the nature of the support? In what way did the CIs prove useful to the children and their families? These were some of the many questions concerning post-operative CI rehabilitation that were the subject of a study conducted by the University of Education Heidelberg. Of the many aspects of the study the behaviour of parents towards their child before and after the CI operation was picked out to be the subject of this article. The results showed a distinct shift, after the operation, towards a natural auditory-verbal behaviour. Under professional guidance in the Cl rehabilitation centres parents were able to adopt important concepts of a modern auditory-verbal therapy. Although the practice of parents and professionals did not coincide on all points, the result of CI rehabilitation was a gain both for the children themselves and for the parents in their daily intercourse with them.