The Relationship of Pragmatic Language Competency and Self-Esteem in Hearing-Impaired Children

Abstract

Background and aim: It is suggested that hearing impaired children with hearing aids and cochlear implant, showed poor pragmatic abilities. Pragmatic is the most related language component to social interaction. Further, it has effect on personality development and self-esteem. The main aim of the present study is investigating the relationship between pragmatic abilities and self-esteem in hearing impaired children. Materials and methods: sixty hearing impaired children with hearing aids or cochlear implant were included into this study according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Then parents or other caregivers were asked to fulfill Children’s Communication Checklist (CCC) and self-esteem questionnaire. The participants were divided into three groups based on hearing impairment severity, including: severe, moderate and mild. The relationship between pragmatic ability and self-esteem was examined in three groups and without considering categorization, by Pearson correlation coefficient, significant level was 0.05. Ethical considerations: This project is approved in Arak university of medical sciences with ethical registration code IR.ARAKMU.REC.1399.150. All parents gave written informed consent form. findings: the results illustrated that there is significant relationship between pragmatic abilities and self-esteem in all hearing impairment children without considering categorization (p<0.05). By considering categorization, significant relationship was showed in self-esteem and pragmatic abilities in moderate and mild groups (p<0.05). Conclusion: according to our analysis, pragmatic abilities and self-esteem are related. This relationship is more obvious in low severity impairment.