Language skills and phonological awareness in children with cochlear implants and normal hearing.
OBJECTIVES
Early auditory experience plays a major role in language acquisition. Linguistic and metalinguistic abilities of children aged 5-5.5 years with cochlear implants (CIs) were compared to age-matched children with normal hearing (NH) to investigate the effect of hearing on development of these two skills.


METHODS
Eighteen children with NH and 18 children with CIs took part in the study. The Test of Language Development-Primary, third edition, was used to assess language and metalinguistic skills by assessment of phonological awareness (PA). Language skills and PA were then compared between groups. Hierarchical linear regression was conducted to determine whether the language skills explained the unique variance in PA.


RESULTS
There were significant differences between children with NH and those with CIs for language skills and PA (p≤0.001). All language skills (semantics, syntax, listening, spoken language, organizing, and speaking) were uniquely predictive of PA outcome in the CI children. Linear combinations of listening and semantics and listening, semantics, and syntax correlated significantly with PA.


CONCLUSION
The results show that children with CIs may have trouble with language skills and PA. Listening, semantics, and syntax, among other skills, are significant indicators of the variance in PA for children with CIs.
['Soleymani|Zahra|Z|', 'Mahmoodabadi|Najmeh|N|', 'Nouri|Mina Mohammadi|MM|']
D001307:Auditory Perception D002648:Child D002675:Child, Preschool D019929:Cochlear Implantation D003054:Cochlear Implants D005260:Female D006309:Hearing D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural D006801:Humans D007802:Language D007804:Language Development D007807:Language Tests D008037:Linguistics D008297:Male D012660:Semantics
Language skills Phonological awareness Cochlear implant Farsi-speaking children