Page 14
History
Joe is a 2 year 3 month old child who has been referred for an interdisciplinary evaluation in the Child Development Clinic. Joe’s parents are both developmentally delayed and there are concerns that Joe is exhibiting similar delays. Joe has not had any previous evaluations and did not have a newborn hearing screening.
Findings
Audiology
Joe was tested with visual reinforcement audiometry under earphones and bone conduction and provided reliable responses so that hearing thresholds could be established. Joe shows a moderate bilateral sensorineural hearing loss with hearing thresholds of 50 to 65 dB in both ears.
Speech and language
Joe demonstrates significant delays in both his expressive and receptive language.
Psychology
Joe demonstrates mild delays on psychological testing. However, an examination of the subtests shows that in non-language based psychological measures Joe is above age-level, but on language subtests he shows moderate delays.
Summary
Joe demonstrates a moderate sensorineural hearing loss and associated language delays consistent with a likely congenital hearing loss of unknown etiology. He does not demonstrate global developmental delays despite the family history.
Follow-up
Joe returned within a month for fitting with binaural behind-the-ear hearing aids. He was referred to an early intervention program in his community.
John was born premature and was a graduate of the UW Medical Center NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). John was born at 25 weeks gestation, 685 grams. His neonatal course was significant for chronic lung disease treated with extended ventilation for 4 weeks, grade II intraventricular hemorrhage, and stage II retinopathy of prematurity. John did not pass his neonatal BAER newborn hearing screening.