Evaluating Phonological Processing Skills in Children With Prelingual Deafness Who Use Cochlear Implants

Abstract

This study investigated the phonological processing skills of 29 children with prelingual, profound hearing loss with 4 years of cochlear implant experience. Results were group matched with regard to word-reading ability and mother’s educational level with the performance of 29 hearing children. Results revealed that it is possible to obtain a valid measure of phonological processing (PP) skills in children using CIs. They could complete rhyming tasks and were able to complete sound-based tasks using standard test materials provided by a commercial test distributor. The CI children completed tasks measuring PP, but there were performance differences between the CI users and the hearing children. The process of learning phonological awareness (PA) for the children with CIs was characterized by a longer, more protracted learning phase than their counterparts with hearing. Tests of phonological memory skills indicated that when the tasks were controlled for presentation method and response modality, there were no differences between the performance of children with CIs and their counterparts with hearing. Tests of rapid naming revealed that there were no differences between rapid letter and number naming between the two groups. Results yielded a possible PP test battery for children with CI experience.

Promoting alphabetic skills of young children with hearing loss in co-enrollment versus individual inclusion.

“…These results are in line with previous studies showing that the alphabetic skills of children with HL lag behind those of hearing children and may develop in different ways (e.g., Andrews & Gonzales, 1992;Nielsen & Luetke-Stahlman, 2002;Spencer & Tomblin, 2009;Sterne & Goswami, 2000). However, the current sample's relatively low profile may also stem from the tendency of children with HL to learn less spontaneously and more from direct teaching (e.g., Akamatsu & Andrews, 1993;Nielsen & Luetke-Stahlman, 2002).…”

“…Children with normal hearing acquire phonological awareness gradually, beginning with awareness of the syllable and followed by awareness of sub-syllables and phonemes (Goswami, 1999). Researchers generally concur that young children with HL evidence delays in phonological awareness (Allman, 2002;Colin et al, 2004;Lederberg, Easterbrooks, Malone Miller, Robin Page & McDonald Connor, 2008;Luetke-Stahlman, & Nielsen, 2003;Most et al, 2006); however, some research indicated only a more protracted learning phase (e.g., Spencer & Tomblin, 2009), whereas others claimed that these children's phonological awareness may develop in different ways (Sterne & Goswami, 2000). A low level of phonological awareness in children with HL hinders their early stages of learning to read (e.g., Goldin-Meadow & Mayberry, 2001).…”

Literacy Outcomes for Primary School Children Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing: A Cohort Comparison Study

“…Tobey et al (2003) report that phonological coding ability and linguistic competence were both predictive skills for reading and Spencer & Oleson (2008) found that speech production and comprehension skills 48 months after implantation accounted for 59% of the variance in written word comprehension three years later. However, detailed assessment of phonological skills in DHH children has shown that they are still lower than those of hearing peers (Herman et al, 2014;Spencer & Tomblin, 2009); and that the benefits of implant technology are greater for language than for phonological skills (Nittrouer, Sansom, Low, Rice, & Caldwell-Tarr, 2014). Nittrouer et al argue that the signal quality available to CI users makes the acquisition of phonological structure problematic for children in comparison to the learning of grammar and vocabulary.…”

Cognitive capacities and composite cognitive skills in individuals with Usher syndrome type 1 and 2

“…When the automatized process breaks down, due to a mishearing or to lack of knowledge of a specific word, intentional and specific processing, which occupies working memory capacity, is needed in order to disentangle the message . Fast lexical access is an indication of an automatized process that develops during language acquisition in individuals with typical hearing (Spencer & Tomblin, 2009). …”

“…The skills of interest; phonological skill, lexical skill, and working memory (WM), are central in the development of other complex skills, such as reading and speech comprehension. The development of these skills is impacted by deteriorated auditory input, such as the signal received by the brain from a CI (Lederberg et al, 2013;Spencer & Tomblin, 2009;Peterson et al, 2010;Lyxell et al, 2013;Löfkvist et al, 2014). Seven children in the ages 7-16 years participated in the study.…”