Attainment of Developmental Tasks by Adolescents With Hearing Loss Attending Special Schools

The investigators compared the perceived attainment of developmental tasks by 181 German adolescents with hearing loss and 254 peers without hearing loss. The adolescents with hearing loss were attending special schools for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. On average, the two groups perceived similar levels of success across the assessed developmental tasks. Nonetheless, the adolescents with hearing loss had fewer friends and were less likely to be peer-group leaders. While the adolescents who were deaf or hard of hearing perceived similar levels of attainment of their developmental tasks, those with congenital hearing loss reported less success in gaining access to a peer group than those with acquired hearing loss. However, the reverse was found for perceived attainment of occupational skills. The results indicate that students with hearing loss attending special schools tend to be successful at solving age-typical developmental tasks.