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More about the Outcomes of School-Age Children who are Hard of Hearing study

The OSACHH study is designed to examine how early intervention and children’s preschool communication abilities influence school-age academic and literacy outcomes. We are documenting characteristics of classrooms and services in the school to better understand how children access and learn from instruction in the classroom.

Drs. Mary Pat Moeller, Boys Town National Research Hospital, and J. Bruce Tomblin, University of Iowa, serve as co-principal investiagors for the OSACHH study.

OSACHH Study Assessments

Research visits for the OSACHH study occur in the spring or summer after children complete 2nd and 4th grades. The length of the visit varies depending on the child, but lasts approximately 4.5 hours. The visit can be split into separate sessions if desired. Families are compensated for their time and children are able to choose a prize at the end of the research visit. A report of the findings, which may be shared with service providers and/or teachers working with the child, is sent to the family after each visit.

2nd and 4th grade visits are very similar and include some of the following tasks:

  • A hearing evaluation or screening
  • Assessment of speech and language skills, including a conversational language sample and measures that assess understanding and production of word endings and sentence construction
  • Measures of academic achievement, including reading, storytelling, spelling, math, writing, and vocabulary
  • Assessment of memory skills, including memory for numbers and words
  • Completion of questionnaires by children and parents about classroom listening and participation, hearing aid use, and listening in different contexts
  • Completion of two surveys by the child’s classroom teacher: one survey, which they receive via mail, asks about the child’s academic behaviors and the other is an online survey regarding their experiences working with children who are hard of hearing and the classroom environment
  • Documentation of the acoustic characteristics of classrooms