Problem Behaviors in Young Children: The Impact of Hearing Loss and Language Impairment

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to better understand problem behaviors in young children with hearing loss (HL) who use listening and spoken language.

Method: Children with HL were compared to same-aged peers with language impairment (LI) and typical language (TL). Participants included 45 children and their parents (13 in the HL group and 16 in the LI and TL groups); the mean age was 43 months (SD 12.2). Results from the preschool version of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/1.5-5) were compared across groups as well as language level. This study also compared the results of the parent-reported CBCL/1.5-5 to the teacher version, the Caregiver-Teacher Report Form (C-TRF) for children with HL to look for any inter-rater differences and differences across settings.

Results: As a group, children with HL did not have significantly different internalizing or externalizing problem behavior composite scores on the CBCL/1.5-5 than children with LI or TL. Internalizing problem behavior scores were moderately associated with language level across all groups. Therefore, internalizing problem behaviors appear to be at least partially attributed to language across multiple populations of young children. It was also found that for children with HL, parent and teacher reported problem behavior scores were in concordance.

Conclusion: In this sample of young children there were no significant group differences in internalizing or externalizing composite scores on the CBCL/1.5-5 between children with HL, LI, and TL. Internalizing problem behavior scores were moderately correlated with language level across all three groups, which is consistent with previous research. For children with HL, parent and teacher reported problem behavior scores were concordant.