The effects of an early history of otitis media on children's language and literacy skill development.

BACKGROUND

Otitis media (OM) or middle ear infection is a common childhood illness and is most frequent during the crucial first 3 years of life when speech and language categories are being established, which could potentially have a long-term effect on language and literacy skill development.

AIMS

The purpose of the current study was to ascertain the effects of a history of OM in early childhood on later language and literacy skill development.

SAMPLE

Forty-three children from Grade 1 and Grade 2, between 6 and 8 years old with an early history of OM and 43 control children, matched for chronological age, gender and socio-economic status, participated in this study.

METHODS

Children were tested on multiple measures of phonological awareness, semantic knowledge, narration and reading ability. The performance of children with and without a history of OM was compared on the different measures.

RESULTS

There was a general tendency for children with a history of OM to achieve lower scores on phonological awareness skills of alliteration, rhyme and non-word reading, semantic skills of expressive vocabulary and word definitions and reading than non-OM children.

CONCLUSION

These findings highlight the potential problems an early history of middle ear infection can have on school-aged children's later language and literacy development.