Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 42122 Reggio Emilia, Italy.
Center for the Diagnosis, Treatment and Study of Communication and Socialization Disorders, NPIA, AUSL of Parma, 43125 Parma, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Sep 8;18(18):9475. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18189475.
Among implanted children with similar duration of auditory deprivation and clinical history, the morpho-syntactic skills remain highly variable, suggesting that other fundamental factors may determine the linguistic outcomes of these children, beyond their auditory recovery. The present study analyzed the morpho-syntactic discrepancies among three children with cochlear implant (CI), with the aim of understanding if morpho-syntactic deficits may be characterized as a domain-specific language disorder.
The three children (mean age = 7.2; SD = 0.4) received their CI at 2.7, 3.7, and 5.9 years of age. Their morpho-syntactic skills were evaluated in both comprehension and production and compared with 15 age-matched normal-hearing children (mean age = 6.6; SD = 0.3).
Cases 1 and 2 displayed a marked impairment across morphology and syntax, whereas Case 3, the late-implanted child, showed a morpho-syntactic profile well within the normal boundaries. A qualitative analysis showed, in Cases 1 and 2, language deficits similar to those of normal hearing children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).
We suggest that a severe grammatical deficit may be, in some implanted children, the final outcome of a impairment to the language system. Clinical implications for assessment and intervention are discussed.
在具有相似听觉剥夺时间和临床病史的植入儿童中，形态句法技能仍然存在很大差异，这表明除了听觉恢复之外，其他基本因素可能决定这些儿童的语言结果。本研究分析了三名植入人工耳蜗（CI）儿童之间的形态句法差异，旨在了解形态句法缺陷是否可能被定性为特定领域的语言障碍。
这三个孩子（平均年龄= 7.2；标准差= 0.4）分别在 2.7、3.7 和 5.9 岁时植入人工耳蜗。他们的形态句法技能在理解和表达两个方面都进行了评估，并与 15 名年龄匹配的正常听力儿童（平均年龄= 6.6；标准差= 0.3）进行了比较。
案例 1 和 2 在形态和句法上都有明显的障碍，而案例 3，即植入较晚的儿童，其形态句法表现则在正常范围内。定性分析显示，在案例 1 和 2 中，语言缺陷与具有发育性语言障碍（DLD）的正常听力儿童相似。
我们认为，在某些植入儿童中，严重的语法缺陷可能是语言系统损伤的最终结果。讨论了评估和干预的临床意义。
