What is the study about?

Some children who are deaf fail to achieve the anticipated level of success with their Cochlear Implants (CIs), despite standard NHS care. While parents have a crucial influence on a child's development, existing models of NHS service delivery for children with CIs often overlook them as a valuable resource for rehabilitation. Preliminary evidence suggests that parent-implemented therapy can significantly benefit a deaf child’s language development post cochlear implantation. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a parent-implemented therapy (It Takes Two to Talk) on language development in deaf children with CIs.

Who can take part in the study?

The target population for the trial are children aged less than 5 years old at time of cochlear implant surgery with severe-to-profound hearing loss who meet UK NICE (TAG566) criteria for cochlear implantation. Parent(s) will be recruited from UK Cochlear Implant programmes.

What is being tested in the study?

We are comparing language development in children with at least one parent who participates in the ITTT program as an adjunctive therapy to standard NHS care, compared with children who receive standard NHS care alone.

What are we trying to find out?

We are trying to evaluate the efficacy of parents’ participating in the ITTT program in addition to standard NHS care on language development in children with CIs aged less than 5 years old.

How many patients do we need?

158 children

Funder

National Institute for Health and Care Research