Morphology and Syntax in Arabic-Speaking Adolescents Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

The story so far: scoping review of narratives in deaf children

Narrative language samples can be used to measure language development in children, but research on narrative development in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children is scarce, limiting knowledge of developmental stages and best practices for collection and analysis. This scoping review included 39 articles that explored recent methodologies and achievements in oral or signed narratives of DHH children, including comparisons with hearing peers and within-group analyses of early auditory experience, device use, and other measures. Articles featured DHH participants aged < 4 to 18 years, varying in device use, communication modalities, and educational settings. Most studies utilized story generation tasks with early elementary-aged children and analyzed either microstructure or macrostructure. Mixed results in comparisons with hearing children emphasized the need to consider individual differences (e.g., speech perception and age of spoken language access) in DHH narrative assessments. Findings also suggest that comparability across studies would be improved by more consistent terminology and procedures in narrative collection/analysis.

Delayed auditory experience results in past tense production difficulties and working memory deficits in children with cochlear implants: A comparison with children with developmental language disorder

Extent evidence has shown that morphosyntax is one of the most challenging linguistic areas for children with atypical early language experiences. Over the last couple of years, comparisons between deaf children with CIs and children with DLD have gained interest - as cases of atypical early language experiences, including, but not restricted to, delayed onset of exposure to language input and language-processing difficulties. Evidence suggests that the morphosyntactic difficulties experienced by deaf children with CIs and children with DLD are very similar in nature. However, the few studies that have directly compared both groups are inconclusive, with deaf children with CIs either performing significantly better or on par with children with DLD. These differences in findings can be attributed, in part at least, to a failure to implement essential methodological controls - even more so given that deaf children with CIs comprise a very diverse population. The goal of the present study was to directly compare the performance of deaf children with CIs to that of children with DLD on a morphosyntactic ability known to be particularly difficult for both groups. Specifically, the present study conducted a detailed examination of the past tense marking abilities of deaf children with CIs and children with DLD while controlling for factors specific to deaf children with CIs, for children's basic cognitive abilities as well as for children's age, sex assigned at birth, and SES. Past tense verbs are particularly relevant as they are used as a marker of developmental language disorder (DLD) in children learning French. Moreover, extent evidence shows that deaf children with CIs and children with DLD have important WM difficulties, but also that there is an association between auditory perception, processing abilities, and working memory (WM) abilities as well as with the acquisition of morphological features, including tense marking. Unfortunately, no study has examined the relation between the accurate production of past tense verbs and WM abilities in children with CIs and children with DLD learning French. Fifteen deaf children with CIs between 5 and 7 years of age were compared to 15 children with DLD and to 15 typically-developing monolingual controls (MON), matched on important variables, using a past tense elicitation task as well as measures of phonological and nonverbal WM abilities. The results confirm that the deaf children with CIs and the children with DLD both performed significantly lower than the MON controls on the past tense elicitation task - suggesting that difficulties with past tense verbs in French might not only be a marker of DLD but, instead, a correlate of atypical language acquisition. Of importance, the present study is the first to show that deaf children with CIs perform significantly lower than children with DLD on a past tense elicitation task - highlighting the importance of using methodological controls. As well, significant correlations were found between the performance of the deaf children with CIs and of the children with DLD on the past tense elicitation task and their phonological and nonverbal WM abilities. Taken together with previous studies conducted in the same populations, this represents another evidence suggesting that early atypical language experiences result in language and WM deficits, including morphosyntactic difficulties.

In search of language development for students who are hard of hearing: measuring the effectiveness of assistive technologies through teaching practices

This study evaluated the effectiveness of assistive technologies (ATs) through e-books in teaching practices aimed at enhancing language development among hard-of-hearing (HH) students. The study implemented an intervention consisting of four language aspects (phonemic awareness, writing, vocabulary, and reading comprehension) wherein the ATs' impacts on language development were assessed. Eighty HH students were divided into control and treatment groups and evaluated through pre- and post-tests. The results showed that the intervention led to significant changes in all four language aspects in both groups. Interestingly, the effect sizes were moderate in the control group but large in the treatment group, thus showing the efficiency and effectiveness of the developed intervention. These findings constitute useful evidence-based guidelines for implementing ATs to enhance teaching practices in the HH language setting.

Early cochlear implantation supports narrative skills of children with prelingual single-sided deafness

Prelingual single-sided deafness (SSD) not only affects children's hearing skills, but can also lead to speech-language delays and academic underachievement. Early cochlear implantation leads to improved spatial hearing, but the impact on language development is less studied. In our longitudinal study, we assessed the language skills of young children with SSD and a cochlear implant (CI). In particular, we investigated their narrative skills in comparison to two control groups: children with SSD without a CI, and children with bilateral normal hearing. We found that children with SSD and a CI performed in line with their normal-hearing peers with regard to narrative and verbal short-term memory skills. Children with SSD without a CI had worse narrative (group difference = - 0.67, p = 0.02) and verbal short-term memory (group difference = - 0.68, p = 0.03) scores than the implanted group. Verbal short-term memory scores and grammar scores each correlated positively with narrative scores across all groups. Early grammar scores (at 2-3 years of age) could partially predict later narrative scores (at 4-6 years of age). These results show that young children with prelingual SSD can benefit from early cochlear implantation to achieve age-appropriate language skills. They support the provision of a CI to children with prelingual SSD.

Story Generation and Narrative Retells in Children Who Are Hard of Hearing and Hearing Children

PURPOSE

The primary goal for this study was to compare story generation and narrative retell performance in children who are hard of hearing (CHH) and hearing children. A secondary goal was to determine factors that influence narrative performance. Research on this topic is important because narrative language competency is an essential communication function.

METHOD

Participants included 86 CHH and 53 seven-year-old hearing children who had completed a test battery composed of vocabulary, grammar, phonological processing, story generation, and narrative retell tasks. Coders who were blind to hearing status used a scoring rubric to judge the quality of narrative macrostructure in story generation and narrative retells. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance to determine group differences and correlational models to examine individual differences.

RESULTS

At 7 years of age, CHH demonstrated significant deficits in narrative macrostructure compared to hearing children, with larger delays in narrative retell than story generation. Vocabulary, grammar, and phonological memory acted as mediators in the relationship between hearing status and story generation; grammar acted as a mediator between hearing status and narrative retell. Auditory access variables accounted for a significant proportion of shared variance in story generation skills for CHH.

CONCLUSIONS

School-age CHH are at risk for delays in narrative production, particularly with retelling stories. The results of this study highlight a narrative coding approach and task procedures that are sensitive to differences in language levels and may be clinically useful for professionals working with early school-age children.