OTOLOGICAL AND HABILITATIVE MANAGEMENT OF CHILDREN WITH DOWN-SYNDROME

It has been well established that children with Down syndrome experien ce a high incidence of persistent conductive hearing loss because of t heir predisposition to stenosis of the external auditory canal (EAC), cerumen impaction, serous otitis media (SOM), and cholesteatoma. Becau se this hearing problem may be a primary cause of the spoken communica tion skills in these children being far below their cognitive ability, assertive management is re quired. The authors present an aggressive multidiscipline treatment model that is instituted during the first ye ar of life in an infant with Down syndrome. Reconstruction of the EAC, amplification technology, and speech/language intervention that empha sizes auditory-verbal (A/V) therapy are discussed. In a pilot study, w e compared the language development of six infants with Down syndrome who received aggressive treatment during their first year of life (gro up A) to six infants who did not (group B). The results showed age-app ropriate oral language development for the infants in group A.