The Development of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children Identified Early Through the High-Risk Registry

TLDR

The high‑risk registry, used for decades in Colorado, missed about half of infants with congenital sensorineural hearing loss and little is known about the developmental outcomes of those identified through it. This article describes the developmental characteristics of children identified through the high‑risk registry. The study grouped children by age at identification—before 6 months versus 7–18 months—to compare outcomes. Children identified before 6 months and receiving intervention 2–3 months later showed significantly higher receptive and expressive language, personal‑social development, vocabulary, general development, situation comprehension, and vowel production, and the registry has since been replaced by universal newborn screening in Colorado.

Abstract

The high-risk registry was used as a screening device for identifying hearing loss for many decades in Colorado. It reportedly missed approximately 50% of all infants with congenital sensorineural hearing loss (Mehl & Thomson, 1998; Parving, 1993; Watkins, Baldwin, & McEnery, 1991). Little is known about the developmental characteristics of this population. This article describes children identified through the high-risk registry. These children have been divided into two groups according to their age of identification: (a) deaf and hard of hearing children identified before age 6 months, and (b) deaf and hard of hearing children identified between ages 7 and 18 months. The children identified before age 6 months and receiving intervention at an average of 2 to 3 months after identification of hearing loss had significantly higher levels of receptive and expressive language, personal-social development, expressive and receptive vocabulary, general development, situation comprehension, and vowel production. The high-risk registry used for newborn hearing screening has been replaced by universal newborn physiological hearing screening in the state of Colorado.