Nonword Repetition in Children With Cochlear Implants: A Potential Clinical Marker of Poor Language Acquisition

Abstract

Purpose Cochlear implants (CIs) can facilitate the acquisition of spoken language for deaf children, but challenges remain. Language skills dependent upon phonological sensitivity are most at risk for these children, so having an effective way to diagnose problems at this level would be of value for school speech-language pathologists. The goal of this study was to assess whether a nonword repetition (NWR) task could serve that purpose. Method 104 second graders participated: 49 with NH and 55 with CIs. In addition to NWR, children were tested on ten measures involving phonological awareness/processing, serial recall of words, vocabulary, reading, and grammar. Results Children with CIs performed more poorly than children with NH on NWR, and sensitivity to phonological structure alone explained that performance for children in both groups. For children with CIs, two audiological factors positively influenced outcomes on NWR: being identified with hearing loss at younger ages and having experience wearing a hearing aid on the unimplanted ear at the time of receiving a first CI. NWR scores were better able to rule out language deficits than rule in such deficits. Conclusions Well-designed NWR tasks could have clinical utility in assessments of language acquisition for school-age children with CIs.

Syntagmatic and paradigmatic development of cochlear implanted children in comparison with normally hearing peers up to age 7

“…Our results revealed that MLU of CI children lags behind that of NH children up to age 6, but CI children caught up by age 7. This is in accordance with for instance Szagun [4], Schauwers [25], Ouellet, Le Normand and Cohen [26], Szagun [27], Nittrouer, Caldwell-Tarr, Sansom, Twersky and Lowensthein [28] and Nittrouer, Sansom, Low, Rice and Caldwell-Tarr [29], who all found lower MLU in CI children as compared to NH children. However, our results show that CI children have age-appropriate MLU scores by age 7.…”

Language and Literacy: Issues and Considerations

“…In a longitudinal study of children in Australia who used cochlear implants and digital hearing aids, Ching, Day, and Cupples [71], as well as Cupples et al [72], found that phonological awareness was a significant predictor of reading at age five, after controlling for receptive vocabulary and nonverbal cognitive ability. A number of more recent studies [73,74] have also suggested phonological skills as the key to reading for young children who are d/Dhh. As testament to the primacy of the role of phonology in learning to read, various interventions have been designed to facilitate the auditory access to English phonology through visual means for d/Dhh students.…”

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

“…Studies by Nittrouer and colleagues (Nittrouer, Caldwell-Tarr, Sansom, Twersky, & Lowenstein, 2014; have highlighted the fact that, in spite of impressive gains in English language for many children who receive cochlear implants, phonological skills still lag behind. Our findings are consistent with this picture.…”