An Investigation of the Effects of Otitis Media on Academic Aptitude, Social Status and Selected Variables in Elementary School-Age Children
Stagliano, Michael Anthony
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/68856
Description
Title
An Investigation of the Effects of Otitis Media on Academic Aptitude, Social Status and Selected Variables in Elementary School-Age Children
Author(s)
Stagliano, Michael Anthony
Issue Date
1983
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Education, Special
Abstract
Otitis media with effusion (OME) is a common disease of early childhood usually associated with a mild fluctuating hearing loss. To date, few studies have looked at otitis media in school-age populations and none to this author's knowledge has studied the academic, social and linguistic implications of OME in first-grade children.
The purpose of this study was to carefully describe the effects of OME on academic aptitude, social status, and several variables of language in a population of first-grade elementary school children. A total of 50 children participated in this study, 25 with a medically-documented history of OME prior to two years of age (the experimental group), and 25 with no previous medical documentation of OME or ear-related pathology (the reference group). Mean age for the experimental group was 6 years 8 months and for the reference group, 6 years 7 months.
The two groups of children were administered similar tests; the Test of Language Development (TOLD), Carrow Elicited Language Inventory (CELI), and the Short Form Test of Academic Aptitude (SFTAA). The results revealed that the reference group children outperformed the experimental subjects (p < 0.05) on the study variables of phonology, syntax, semantics, noun phrase, verb phrase, reference language, and reference non-language. The intercorrelations among variables for the experimental and reference group ranged generally from essentially zero to approximately 0.75. Based on the significant intercorrelations on dependent variables within the respective groups, the experimental (OME) subjects performed in a more similar fashion than did their non-OME counterparts. Social status as measured by sociometric techniques did not appear to be influenced by the presence of OME. The results appear to indicate that persistent episodes of OME can compromise a child's linguistic development.
A discriminant analysis was performed on all study variables with the exception of social status. The results showed that the variables of noun phrase, phonology, and verb phrase respectively, contributed most to differentiating the two groups of children. Recommendations for improving present and future research were made on the basis of the data gathered in this study.
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