1.
Hansson, Kristina, et al.
(författare)
Can a 'single hit' cause limitations in language development? A comparative study of Swedish children with hearing impairment and children with specific language impairment.
2007
Ingår i: International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders. - : Wiley. - 1368-2822 .- 1460-6984. ; 42:3, s. 307-323
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Studies of language in children with mild-to-moderate hearing impairment ( HI) indicate that they often have problems in phonological shortterm memory (PSTM) and that they have linguistic weaknesses both in vocabulary and morphosyntax similar to children with specific language impairment (SLI). However, children with HI may be more likely than children with SLI to acquire typical language skills as they get older. It has been suggested that the more persisting problems in children with SLI are due to a combination of factors: perceptual, cognitive and/or linguistic. Aims: The main aim of this study was to explore language skills in children with HI in comparison with children with SLI, and how children with both HI and language impairment differ from those with non-impaired spoken language skills. Methods & Procedures: PSTM, output phonology, lexical ability, receptive grammar and verb morphology were assessed in a group of children with mild-to-moderate HI ( n=11) and a group of children with SLI (n=12) aged 5 years 6 months to 9 years 0 months. Outcomes & Results: The HI group tended to score higher than the SLI group on the language measures, although few of the differences were significant. The children with HI had their most obvious weaknesses in PSTM, vocabulary, receptive grammar and inflection of novel verbs. The subgroup of children with HI ( five out of 10) who also showed evidence of grammatical output problems was significantly younger than the remaining children with HI. Correlation analysis showed that the language variables were not associated with age, whereas hearing level was associated with PSTM. Conclusions: Children with HI are at risk for at least a delay in lexical ability, receptive grammar and grammatical production. The problems seen in the HI group might be explained by their low-level perceptual deficit and weak PSTM. For the SLI group the impairment is more severe. From a clinical perspective an important conclusion is that the language development in children with even mild-to-moderate HI deserves attention and support.
2.
Hansson, Kristina, et al.
(författare)
Working memory and novel word learning in children with hearing impairment and children with specific language impairment
2004
Ingår i: International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders. - : Wiley. - 1368-2822 .- 1460-6984. ; 39:3, s. 401-422
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Background: Working memory is considered to influence a range of linguistic skills, i.e. vocabulary acquisition, sentence comprehension and reading. Several studies have pointed to limitations of working memory in children with specific language impairment. Few studies, however, have explored the role of working memory for language deficits in children with hearing impairment. Aims: The first aim was to compare children with mild-to-moderate bilateral sensorineural hearing impairment, children with a preschool diagnosis of specific language impairment and children with normal language development, aged 9-12 years, for language and working memory. The special focus was on the role of working memory in learning new words for primary school age children. Methods & Procedures: The assessment of working memory included tests of phonological short-term memory and complex working memory. Novel word learning was assessed according to the methods of Gilbertson and Kamhi ( 1995). In addition, a range of language tests was used to assess language comprehension, output phonology and reading. Outcomes & Results: Children with hearing impairment performed significantly better than children with a preschool diagnosis of specific language impairment on tasks assessing novel word learning, complex working memory, sentence comprehension and reading accuracy. No significant correlation was found between phonological short-term memory and novel word learning in any group. The best predictor of novel word learning in children with specific language impairment and in children with hearing impairment was complex working memory. Furthermore, there was a close relationship between complex working memory and language in children with a preschool diagnosis of specific language impairment but not in children with hearing impairment. Conclusions: Complex working memory seems to play a significant role in vocabulary acquisition in primary school age children. The interpretation is that the results support theories suggesting a weakened influence of phonological short-term memory on novel word learning in school age children.
3.
4.
5.
Ibertsson, Tina, et al.
(författare)
Deaf teenagers with cochlear implants in conversation with hearing peers
2009
Ingår i: International journal of language and communication disorders. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1368-2822 .- 1460-6984. ; 44:3, s. 319-337
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
BACKGROUND:This study investigates the use of requests for clarification in conversations between teenagers with a cochlear implant (CI) and hearing peers. So far very few studies have focused on conversational abilities in children with CI.AIMS:The aim was to explore co-construction of dialogue in a referential communication task and the participation of the teenagers with CI in comparison with individually matched hearing children and teenagers (HC) by studying the use of requests for clarification.METHODS & PROCEDURES:Sixteen conversational pairs participated: eight pairs consisting of a child with CI and his/her hearing conversational partner (CIP); and eight pairs consisting of an HC and a conversational partner (HCP). The conversational pairs were videotaped while carrying out a referential communication task requiring the description of two sets of pictures depicting faces. The dialogues were transcribed and analysed with respect to the number of words and turns, the time it took for each pair to complete the tasks, and the occurrence and different types of requests for clarification that were used in each type of conversational pair and in each type of dialogue.OUTCOMES & RESULTS:The main finding was that the teenagers with CI produced significantly more requests for clarification than the HCs. The most frequently used type of request for clarification in all dialogues was request for confirmation of new information. Furthermore, there was a trend for the teenagers with CI to use this type of request more often than the HC. In contrast, the teenagers with CI used significantly fewer requests for confirmation of already given information and fewer requests for elaboration than the HC.CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS:The deaf teenagers with CI in the study seem to be equally collaborative and responsible conversational partners as the hearing teenagers. The interpretation is that certain conditions in this study facilitate their participation in conversation. Such conditions might be a calm environment, a task that is structured and without time limits and that the partner is well known to the teenager with CI.
6.
Lyxell, Björn, et al.
(författare)
Cognitive development in children with cochlear implants: Relations to reading and communication
2008
Ingår i: International Journal of Audiology. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1708-8186 .- 1499-2027. ; 47:S2, s. 47-52
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat) abstract
The purpose of the present article is to present an overview of a set of studies conducted in our own laboratory on cognitive and communicative development in children with cochlear implants (CI). The results demonstrate that children with CIs perform at significantly lower levels on the majority of the cognitive tasks. The exceptions to this trend are tasks with relatively lower demands on phonological processing. A fairly high proportion of the children can reach a level of reading comprehension that matches hearing children, despite the fact that they have relatively poor phonological skills. General working memory capacity is further correlated with the type of questions asked in a referential communication task. The results are discussed with respect to issues related to education and rehabilitation.
7.
8.
9.
Wass, Malin, et al.
(författare)
Reading strategies and cognitive skills i children with cochlear implants
2010
Ingår i: Acta Neuropsychologica. - 1730-7503. ; 8:2, s. 143-180
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Abstract in UndeterminedThe present study investigated working memory capacity, lexical access, phonological skills and reading ability in 6 children with cochlear implants (CI), attending grades 1-3. For each test measure, the individual performance of the children was compared to a grade-matched comparison group of children with normal hearing. Performance was also studied in relation to demographic factors. Cognitive skills were assessed in a computer-based test battery. Different aspects of each of the component skills were tapped in various subtests. Reading comprehension was measured by the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test and decoding was assessed in the Test of Word Reading (TOWRE). The children were also tested on orthographic learning. These children with CI have specific difficulties in tasks of phonological skills and phonological working memory (WM) where nonwords are used as test stimuli. They do not seem to have problems with phonological processing of words for which they have a well defined phonological representation. They also experienced relatively more difficulties in tasks on lexical access without any contextual information. We suggest that children with CI are particularly efficient in using compensatory strategies in situations where their auditory perception does not provide sufficient information to correctly match the incoming speech signal to a corresponding representation in longterm phonological storage. The children with CI in this study were skill ed readers, both for decoding of words and nonwords and for reading comprehension. They may use both orthographic and phonological reading strategies, although most of them seem to be dependent on phonological decoding to some extent.
