This was a study was conducted to see if hearing impaired children have lower levels of self-esteem, because among other things they frequently experience lower language and communication skills. This study compares hearing impaired children's self esteem across different domains with those of normal hearing children to investigate the influence of communication type of education and audiological characteristics.
In this study they studied two gate and gender matched groups 123 Hearing impaired children and 129 Normal hearing children with a mean age of 11.8 years old. They measured self-esteem across four areas, perceived social acceptance by peers, perceived parental attention ,perceived physical appearance and global self esteem.
After observing these children over a 3 month period of time each group of children were given a questionnaire. The questions were provided to the children in the method that best suited each child, either pen and paper, computer or spoken language translated into sign language. Parents or caregivers were also asked to complete forms to help provide demographic background on the children. The results were that the sores didn't significantly differ when comparing global self esteem. This group also looked at the type of education these children received and their self esteem. Children in mainstream classrooms did not score differently to children in self contained classrooms.
I really was surprised by the findings of this test. I thought that the children would have slightly lower self esteem. Then I thought about how the children I work with and live with see themselves. They do not see themselves as different. My children almost have more self esteem. They don't feel that they are different. They do notice children who have the same issues as they do but they don't necessarily see it as a bad thing. I would have liked to seen information on children who were hearing impaired at birth vs. those who experienced hearing loss later in life.
We have read in our book regarding the disability of being hearing impaired it was more a discussion of the impairment not the effect it has on children socially or their self esteem. It would be nice to have a chapter on the social implications that all disabilities have on children.
Theunissen, S. M., Rieffe, C., Netten, A. P., Briaire, J. J., Soede, W., Kouwenberg, M., & Frijns, J. M. (2014). Self-Esteem in Hearing-Impaired Children: The Influence of Communication, Education, and Audiological Characteristics. Plos ONE, 9(4), 1-8. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0094521
