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ABSTRACT INFORMATION
Title: 'Children Labeled Medically Complex Enrolled in Early Intervention' Track: 3-Early Intervention and Beyond Audience: Primary Audience: Secondary Audience: Tertiary Audeince: Keyword(s): medically complex, additional disabilities Learning Objectives: The learner will be able to describe the attainment of 1-3-6 in children wtih medical complexities. Abstract: Approximately 40% of children with hearing loss have additional developmental concerns. This rate may be due to an increasing ability to support children born extremely prematurely and reliance on life-saving supports for medically complex children. The study objective was to compare medically complex (MC) children who are deaf/hard of hearing (HOH) to children without medical cmoplexities enrolled in Early Intervention (EI) in one state between 2004-2007. Children with complex medical conditions (n=177) were compared to children without medical complexities (n=328). MC children were significantly older at identification (median 5.5 vs 3.4 months, p=0.002)and older at EI enrollment (8.6 vs 6.5 months, p=0.01). MC children were less likely to be enrolled by 6 months of age (36% vs 49%, p=0.004). This difference remained consistent post-UNHS implementation. Although ages of identification and enrollment significantly decreased over time(p<.0001) among MC children, the decrease was not as large as the non-MC group. Both groups received amplification at equal rates (77% MC vs 76%, p=0.8). MC children received amplification later (9.5 months vs 7 months, p=0.0005) and were less likely to receive a cochlear implant despite having simlar rates of severe to profound hearing loss. Among children with severe to profound hearing loss, the rates of implantation were 28% among the MC and 52% among the non-MC group (p=0.003). MC children who entered EI <6 months of age had significantly higher baseline language than children who entered >6 months. Age at EI enrollment seemed to be the most important factor for language in this population of children. Children with medical complexities compared to those with no medical complexities were less likely to meet the 1-3-6 goals regarding identification and enrollment, and less likely to have received cochlear implantation. Understanding the reasons for the disparate access to services is an important area for future research. Handouts: Handout is not Available
SPEAKER INFORMATION
PRESENTER(S):   AUTHOR(S): Daniel Choo - Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center      Credentials: MD      Other Affiliations: FAAP       BIO: Dr. Choo is a professor of pediatric otolaryngology at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. He is a neuro-otologist and has an extensive clinical practice and active research career in the field of childhood hearing loss. Jareen Meinzen-Derr - Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center      Credentials: PhD, MPH       BIO: Dr. Meinzen-Derr is quantitative epidemiologist at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. She has focused her research on outcomes of children who are deaf or hard of hearing, and specifically those who have additional developmental disabilities.