Expressive spoken language development in deaf children with cochlear implants who are beginning formal education

Abstract

AbstractThis paper assesses the expressive spoken grammar skills of young deaf children using cochlear implants who are beginning formal education, compares it with that achieved by normally hearing children and considers possible implications for educational management. Spoken language grammar was assessed, three years after implantation, in 45 children with profound deafness who were implanted between ten and 36 months of age (mean age = 27 months), using the South Tyneside Assessment of Syntactic Structures (Armstrong and Ainley, 1983) which is based on the Language Assessment and Remediation Screening Procedure (Crystal et al., 1976). Of the children in this study aged between four and six years, 58 per cent (26) were at or above the expressive spoken language grammatical level of normally hearing three year olds after three years of consistent cochlear implant use: however, 42 per cent (19) had skills below this level. Aetiology of deafness, age at implantation, educational placement, mode of communi...