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Significance of Etiology in Motor Performance of Deaf Children with Special Reference to Meningitis

1946; University of Illinois Press; Volume: 59; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1416888

1939-8298

Helmer R. Myklebust,

Inclusion and Disability in Education and Sport

Little attention has been given to the etiology of deafness and its relation to motor performance, learning problems or adjustment. That the etiological groups differ in certain respects is apparent from observation. Children sustaining hearing losses as a result of disease or accident after speech and language have been acquired, do not present the problem of educational retardation which is characteristic of the child who has never heard or who has no memory of having heard. On an empirical basis the problem of adjustment seems different for the individual who had normal hearing prior to sustaining a hearing loss than it is for the individual who has not experienced hearing. Burchard and Myklebust studied the effect of congenital and adventitious deafness on intelligence, personality and social maturity.' They found no difference between groups of congenitally and adventitiously deaf children. The present investigation was undertaken to determine whether differences in motor ability might exist between deaf children classified etiologically. Classifications were made on the basis of medical and social history records. Many of those classified under categories representing familial deafness had deaf relatives. Those having acquired deafness had reported accidents or diseases, such as meningitis, scarlet fever, and diphtheria. Rather than classifying the Ss into two etiological groups, congenital and adventitious, they were classified into five groups as follows: (1) endogenous; (2) presumptively endogenous; (3) exogenous, other than meningitis; (4) meningitis; and (5) undetermined.