The School Career of Children With Hearing Loss in Different Primary Educational Settings-A Large Longitudinal Nationwide Study.
Tirza F K van der Straaten, Jeroen J Briaire, Evelien Dirks and 3 others
PMID 33866374WHAT IT FOUND
Most children with hearing loss in mainstream schools perform average or above average in language and math.
However, those remaining in special primary education attend lower levels of secondary education. Placement in special settings, rather than hearing technology type, predicts lower educational attainment.
Key findings
01Approximately 60–70% of children with hearing loss in mainstream education performed average or above average on language and mathematics tests.
02Children with hearing loss who remained in special primary education attended lower levels of secondary education compared to their mainstreamed peers.
03Children with cochlear implants who switched from special to mainstream primary education achieved language and mathematics levels comparable to their hearing peers.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The dataset lacked specific clinical details such as the degree of hearing loss, age at identification, and age at implantation. Standardized test data was only available for mainstream schools; children in special education were not assessed on language and math, so their academic levels could not be compared directly. The study could not distinguish between full-time and part-time mainstream attendance (e.g., children in special schools who attended some hours in mainstream classes). One-third of mainstream schools did not use the specific standardized test (Cito) analyzed, leading to missing data for some participants.
Declared interests
The work was supported by Stichting het Heinsius-Houbolt Fonds. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that placing a child in mainstream education guarantees academic success or that special education is inherently harmful. The study is observational and cannot prove causation; children who stayed in special education may have had more severe hearing loss, additional disabilities, or other factors that influenced both their placement and their outcomes. Additionally, the lack of standardized test data for children in special education means we do not know their actual academic levels, only their educational trajectory.