A comparative study of mother-child relationships for a deaf child with cochlear implant in combination with ADHD and a normal hearing child

Abstract

When auditory training is administered to an infant, stability in the mother's relationship with her child is of great importance. Here, we report the results of a TK-type test for assessing child-parent relationships given to a mother of male twins: the elder a deaf child with cochlear implant (CI) also afflicted with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and the younger a normal hearing child. Prior to the CI operation, the mother manifested different relationships with the deaf and normal twins, and that difference was still recognized two years after the operation. However, at two years and seven months post-operation, when speech and intelligence testing yielded normal results for the deaf twin, there was no longer any discernible difference in the mother's relationships to both children. We then compared the present case with two cases of hearing-impaired children (without ADHD) and their siblings. We found that before the CI operation, TK testing suggested that the two mothers exhibited more problematic behavior in their relationship with their hearing-impaired child than in their relationship with their normal offspring; however, one year after the CI operation, the mother-child relationship stabilized. These findings suggest that, compared to a case of a hearing-impaired child, it takes roughly three times longer for the mother-child relationship to stabilize after CI operation in the case of a hearing-impaired child also afflicted with ADHD. These results indicate the difficulty and importance of providing guidance to mothers of hearing-impaired children who also suffer from ADHD.