Hayes Heather, Geers Ann E, Treiman Rebecca, Moog Jean Sachar
Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63128, USA.
Ear Hear. 2009 Feb;30(1):128-35. doi: 10.1097/AUD.0b013e3181926524.
Deaf children with cochlear implants are at a disadvantage in learning vocabulary when compared with hearing peers. Past research has reported that children with implants have lower receptive vocabulary scores and less growth over time than hearing children. Research findings are mixed as to the effects of age at implantation on vocabulary skills and development. One goal of the current study is to determine how children with cochlear implants educated in an auditory-oral environment compared with their hearing peers on a receptive vocabulary measure in overall achievement and growth rates. This study will also investigate the effects of age at implant on vocabulary abilities and growth rates. We expect that the children with implants will have smaller vocabularies than their hearing peers but will achieve similar rates of growth as their implant experience increases. We also expect that children who receive their implants at young ages will have better overall vocabulary and higher growth rates than older-at-implant children.
Repeated assessments using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test were given to 65 deaf children with cochlear implants who used oral communication, who were implanted under the age of 5 yr, and who attended an intensive auditory-oral education program. Multilevel modeling was used to describe overall abilities and rates of receptive vocabulary growth over time.
On average, the deaf children with cochlear implants had lower vocabulary scores than their hearing peers. However, the deaf children demonstrated substantial vocabulary growth, making more than 1 yr's worth of progress in a year. This finding contrasts with those of previous studies of children with implants, which found lower growth rates. A negative quadratic trend indicated that growth decelerated with time. Age at implantation significantly affected linear and quadratic growth. Younger-at-implant children had steeper growth rates but more tapering off with time than children implanted later in life.
Growth curves indicate that children who are implanted by the age of 2 yr can achieve receptive vocabulary skills within the average range for hearing children.
与听力正常的同龄人相比，植入人工耳蜗的聋儿在学习词汇方面处于劣势。过去的研究报告称，与听力正常的儿童相比，植入人工耳蜗的儿童接受性词汇得分较低，且随着时间推移增长较少。关于植入年龄对词汇技能和发展的影响，研究结果不一。本研究的一个目标是确定在听觉口语环境中接受教育的植入人工耳蜗的儿童与听力正常的同龄人在接受性词汇测量方面的总体成就和增长率。本研究还将调查植入年龄对词汇能力和增长率的影响。我们预计，植入人工耳蜗的儿童词汇量将比听力正常的同龄人小，但随着植入经验的增加，他们的增长速度将与同龄人相似。我们还预计，在幼年时接受植入的儿童总体词汇量将比植入年龄较大的儿童更好，增长率更高。
对65名使用口语交流、5岁前接受植入且参加强化听觉口语教育项目的植入人工耳蜗的聋儿进行了重复评估，评估使用皮博迪图片词汇测验。采用多层次建模来描述接受性词汇随时间的总体能力和增长速度。
平均而言，植入人工耳蜗的聋儿词汇得分低于听力正常的同龄人。然而，这些聋儿词汇量有显著增长，一年取得了超过一年价值的进步。这一发现与之前对植入人工耳蜗儿童的研究结果形成对比，之前的研究发现其增长速度较低。负二次趋势表明增长随时间减速。植入年龄显著影响线性和二次增长。植入年龄较小的儿童增长速度更快，但随着时间推移比植入年龄较大的儿童衰减更多。
生长曲线表明，2岁前接受植入的儿童能够在听力正常儿童的平均范围内获得接受性词汇技能。
