Introduction: Three major trends in the literature devoted to somatic development of deaf children can be identified. Those various conclusions create a need for further research in the quest for identifying the factors of differentiation in somatic development of deaf children. That is why, the purpose of the presented study was to determine whether selected and classified endo- and exogenous factors (i.e. etiology and location of damage to hearing, educational environment) affect the somatic development of deaf children.
Materials and methods: A group of 56 pupils from special care schools in three centers for persons with impaired hearing at the age of 10-16 years was selected. All the subjects were intellectually healthy and no dysfunctions of motor organs were observed among them. Measurements of body height were taken by means of anthropometer. Body weight and fat percentage were measured with impedance analyzer, using the phenomenon of conduction of electricity of low intensity in body tissues. Somatic development profiles were created separately for the groups with different cause, type (location) of hearing loss and educational environment on the basis of the standardization.
Results: A varied course of somatic development profiles by type of hearing loss, etiology, and environmental education was found. However, the analysis of variance and Student´s t-test did not confirm that components of somatic profiles differ substantially from the selected endo- and exogenous factors.
Conclusion: 1. In the study group reviewed a factor of educational environment was not dominant for the somatic development in deaf children. The hypothesis that the educational environment factor affects the somatic development was not proved. 2. There has been no significant relationship between the somatic development and deafness i.e. etiology and location of hearing damage.