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NeonaTal Assisted TelerehAbilitation (T.A.T.A. Web App) for Hearing-Impaired Children: A Family-Centered Care Model
Emma Landolfi1, Grazia Isabella Continisio1, Valeria Del Vecchio1
1Unit of Audiology, Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive Sciences and Dentistry, University of Naples Federico II, via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy.
Insights
Early intervention for children with permanent hearing impairment (PHI) is enhanced by family empowerment. A web app improved auditory skills in DHH children through active parental involvement.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Audiology
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Telehealth
Background:
- Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs are crucial for children with permanent hearing impairment (PHI).
- Modern early intervention emphasizes active family involvement and empowerment for optimal child development.
- Investigating the impact of technology on family engagement in habilitation is essential.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess parental self-efficacy and involvement in DHH children's habilitation.
- To evaluate the language skills of DHH children using hearing aids and a telepractice app.
- To explore the effectiveness of the T.A.T.A. web app in supporting early intervention.
Main Methods:
- A 14-week study involving 15 children with PHI, using the T.A.T.A. web app for weekly family questionnaires.
- Parental compliance was measured using the Family Involvement Rate Scale (FIRS).
- Children received in-person visits at the start and end of the intervention period.
Main Results:
- Children demonstrated improved auditory perceptual skills, as indicated by the Infant Listening Progress Profile (ILiP) and Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP) scores.
- Auditory skills showed improvement correlated with child's age and parental participation.
- The FIRS scale indicated positive parental engagement throughout the program.
Conclusions:
- The T.A.T.A. web app facilitates proactive management and personalized habilitation for DHH children.
- Active family involvement, supported by the app, is achievable in routine and emergency clinical settings.
- This telepractice approach offers a cost-effective solution for early intervention without additional expenses.
Background:
An early hearing detection and intervention program (EHDI) is the first step for the habilitation of children with permanent hearing impairment (PHI). Actually, early intervention programs have increasingly shifted toward family involvement, emphasizing that the child's family should take an active role in the habilitation process. Therefore, familiar empowerment is the best way to improve a child's emerging abilities. The aim of this study was to investigate parental self-efficacy beliefs and involvement as well as the language skills of deaf or hard of hearing DHH children who were habilitated with hearing aids and followed using the T.A.T.A web app (NeonaTal Assisted TelerehAbilitation), an example of asynchronous telepractice.
Methods:
The study describes the early stages of the habilitation program of 15 PHI children followed through the T.A.T.A. web app, which empowers families through a weekly questionnaire submitted during the first 270 to 360 days of their child's life, for 14 weeks. The family involvement rate scale (FIRS) was used to evaluate parental compliance, and all children received in-person visits at the beginning and at the end of the training period.
Results:
The children showed greater auditory perceptual skills at the end of the training period on the basis of both the Infant Listening Progress Profile (ILiP) score and the Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP) and FIRS scales. In other words, the auditory skills improved with age as well as with parental participation.
Conclusions:
The T.A.T.A. web app promotes a proactive management and a tailored habilitation through an active familiar involvement, easily achieved in clinical routine and in emergency settings without additional costs.
