Intelligence of Hearing-Impaired Children: An Evaluation Based on Demographic, Educational, and Audiological Characteristics

Abstract

Studies to determine the intelligence level of children with special needs are performed by Guidance and Research Centers, university research centers, schools, and the relevant clinics of hospitals for a variety of reasons. International occupational organizations describe that gaining an understanding of the intelligence characteristics of hearing-impaired children in different cultures and societies is of critical importance to ensure that specialists and researchers performing intelligence tests can interpret their results correctly. Based on this consideration, the purpose of this study was to demonstrate the intelligence characteristics of hearing-impaired children through comparisons with children with typical development. In addition, I investigated the relationship of the intelligence quotient (IQ) score with basic demographic, educational, and audiological variables, and evaluated whether IQ scores differed according to these variables. The sample of the study consisted of 329 hearing-impaired children in different educational settings within the Eskişehir province. According to the results of the one sample t-test performed within the frame of the study’s main purpose, the total IQ scores of the hearing-impaired children, as determined by the WISC-R performance sub-tests, were higher than the scores of the standardization sample of Turkey. Pearson correlation analysis indicated that the WISC-R performance sub-tests had a moderate correlation with one another, and a high correlation with IQ scores. Among the different demographic variables, the educational level of both the father and mother had a significant effect on total IQ scores, although the fathers’ level of education showed a higher correlation with total IQ than the mothers’. In regards to the audiological variables, the degree of hearing loss did not have a significant correlation with total IQ. Based on the ANCOVA, in which the fathers’ level of education as covariate, it was determined that with respect to the gender, male children had higher total IQ scores than female children; and that, with respect to the educational setting variable, children receiving education at the Education and Research Center for Hearing Impaired Children (İÇEM) and in inclusive settings had higher total IQ scores than children receiving education at the Ministry of National Education’s (MoNE) Elementary Schools for the Hearing Impaired. No significant difference was identified in terms of IQ scores between children using hearing aids and children using cochlear implants. Higher IQ scores were observed for the standardization group during the comparison of Turkey’s standardization sample with the hearing-impaired children sample. We believe that this may have been due to the fact that the test’s standardization data were somewhat not actual. The study findings indicate that individuals performing intelligence assessments on hearing-impaired children should take into account the socio-economic level of these children’s families, as well as the educational setting. Possible recommendations we can make to other researchers include determining the psychometric characteristics of the new version of this test and other non-verbal intelligence tests; conducting norm studies; testing the psychometric characteristics of intelligence tests with groups that have different special needs; and developing tests suitable for the Turkish culture.