title: Recent Rehabilitation Experience with Pediatric ABI Users.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to describe the rehabilitative outcomes of pediatric auditory brainstem implant (ABI) users in the Department of Otolaryngology in the Hacettepe University. It was a retrospective study, and all patients' files were reviewed.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data was collected from 41 children who were fitted with ABI between 2005 and 2013. Inclusion criteria for children in our study are profound, congenital bilateral sensory-neural hearing loss with anomalies (such as cochlear, labyrinthine, and cochlear nerve aplasia) and more than one year of auditory experience with ABI. Post-meningitis patients and neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) patients were excluded. Auditory perception was evaluated using the Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (MAIS), Functioning after Pediatric Cochlear Implantation (FAPCI) instrument, Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP), and Children's Auditory Perception Skills Test in Turkish (CIAT). Speech intelligibility was categorized with speech intelligibility rating (SIR), and language development was assessed using the Test of Early Language Development-Third Edition (TELD-3) and Manchester Spoken Language Development Scale (MSLD).
  
  
  RESULTS
  All patients gained basic audiological functions and were able to recognize and discriminate sounds by the third month of ABI surgery. According to the duration of ABI use and learning skills, patients revealed development from word identification to sentence recognition level in a wide spectrum.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Preliminary results indicate that all children have gained basic auditory perception skills. On the other hand, language and speech development data were varying among children. Additional handicaps seemed to slow down progression. Secondary improvement was seen at psychosocial areas with respect to behavioral and social adjustment as well as eagerness to start communication.
authors.affiliation: Department of Audiology, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. filizasl@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Esra
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yücel
authors.forename: Filiz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Aslan
authors.forename: Hilal Burcu
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Özkan
authors.forename: Levent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sennaroğlu
mesh_terms: D001299:Audiometry; D038263:Auditory Brain Stem Implantation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D038262:Auditory Brain Stem Implants; D001307:Auditory Perception; D002675:Child, Preschool; D012048:Correction of Hearing Impairment / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000151:congenital / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D012917:Social Adjustment; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014421:Turkey