PURPOSE: Early diagnosis of hearing loss in children, as well as fast intervention, have been shown to be determining factors for hearing and language development, with important implications for the social inclusion process and communicative performance. The present study aims to analyze alternatives that guarantee adhesion to use of Hearing Aids and greater family participation in the initial steps of the intervention. METHODS: The study comprehended parents/caregivers of 16 hearing impaired children who attended the process of ADAPTI (Hearing Aid Fitting and Initial Therapy) during one year, who had formally applied for the Hearing Care Service. The parents were divided in three groups: Previously Determined (Families that attend both the speech therapy and the Family Adhesion Group (GrAF) from the first day set for the beginning of sessions, to the last day); Continuous Flow (Families that started attending the group from the moment they arrived for the ADAPTI); and Control (Families that only attended speech therapy, but not the GrAF). RESULTS: The study verified the effectiveness of parent adhesion to their children’s treatment with more than 66% of attendance in the proposed activities (therapeutic intervention and/or GrAF). The statistical analysis allowed the composition of three children groups regarding the datalog usage (hours a day), family participation and degree of hearing loss. CONCLUSION: The systematic use of hearing aids was the only variable closely related to hearing and language skills. Degree of hearing loss and age at the beginning of amplification have not explained the development of the children in the study.
Family; Rehabilitation; Hearing loss; Hearing aids; Language development