Comparison between the IT-MAIS and MUSS questionnaires with video-recording for evaluation of children who may receive a cochlear implantation

There is a great difficulty in determining earlier on which children would benefit or not from cochlear implants, especially because of their young age, the responses they give are very subtle. AIM: To compare results obtained through video-recording of the interactions of children who may receive a cochlear implant with the results obtained through evaluation protocols. METHOD: Seven children, with an average age of 39.7 months, with profound hearing loss were selected for the study. IT-MAIS and MUSS questionnaires were given to their parents/guardians of these children and the results were compared with the observation of the video-recordings. RESULTS: It was possible to observe that the data is compatible with the auditory stages. However, the MUSS questionnaire data gathered during playful activities is very different. The questionnaire only takes into consideration the use of verbal language and therefore the majority of the evaluated children inevitably score low. CONCLUSION: Observing children play allows us to trace a better profile of linguistic behavior and aspects relative to language, that may presented differences in the questionnaire.