Auditory sentence comprehension in children with cochlear implants after simple visual discrimination training with specific auditory-visual consequences

The present study evaluated the effects of simple discrimination training with specific consequences on auditory comprehension in children with cochlear implants (CIs). Demonstration of auditory comprehension was based on derived conditional relations and the formation of equivalence relations. Participants learned two sets of three simple visual discriminations in which the positive stimulus (S⁺) was a written pseudo-sentence (C1, C2, or C3) or a compound abstract picture (D1, D2, or D3), displayed in the correct orientation. Each trial presented the S⁺ simultaneously with two S^- which were the same sentence or picture as the positive stimulus but were displayed in either an upside-down or an inverse orientation. Correct responses were followed by specific consequences with two components presented simultaneously: a dictated pseudo-sentence (A) and a representative picture (B). Probes of arbitrary matching to sample assessed derived auditory-visual (AB, AC, and AD) and visual-visual (BC, CB, BD, DB, CD, and DC) conditional relations. All three participants learned the simple discriminations; two of them showed derived conditional relations, demonstrating the formation of three ABCD classes. The present study replicated and extended previous results on sentence learning in children with CIs, suggesting the simple discrimination training with specific consequences as an efficient procedure to generate auditory-visual and symbolic relations in this population.

Relations Between Teacher Talk Characteristics and Child Language in Spoken-Language Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Classrooms

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to examine relations between teachers' conversational techniques and language gains made by their deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Specifically, we considered teachers' reformulations of child utterances, language elicitations, explicit vocabulary and syntax instruction, and wait time.

METHOD

This was an observational, longitudinal study that examined the characteristics of teacher talk in 25 kindergarten through second-grade classrooms of 68 deaf and hard-of-hearing children who used spoken English. Standardized assessments provided measures of child vocabulary and morphosyntax in the fall and spring of a school year. Characteristics of teacher talk were coded from classroom video recordings during the winter of that year.

RESULTS

Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that reformulating child statements and explicitly teaching vocabulary were significant predictors of child vocabulary gains across a school year. Explicitly teaching vocabulary also significantly predicted gains in morphosyntax abilities. There were wide individual differences in the teachers' use of these conversational techniques.

CONCLUSION

Reformulation and explicit vocabulary instruction may be areas where training can help teachers improve, and improvements in the teachers' talk may benefit their students.

Improving oral sentence production in children with cochlear implants: effects of equivalence-based instruction and matrix training

ᅟ: Children who use cochlear implants (CI) and who are readers usually produce more accurate speech in response to text than to pictures. Equivalence-based instruction (EBI) can be a route to establish functional interdependence between these verbal operants. The present study investigated whether children with CI who read would improve speech accuracy when tacting pictures of scenes after EBI that included dictated sentences, pictures of scenes, and printed sentences. This study evaluated whether teaching verbal relations to diagonal sentences from a matrix with subject-verb-object combinations promoted recombinative generalization to untrained sentences. Participants were three children with CI with a more accurate speech when reading print than when tacting pictures of scenes. They were taught to select pictures of scenes in response to dictated sentences (AB) by matching-to-sample (MTS) and to construct printed sentences in response to dictated sentences (AE) by constructed-response-matching-to-sample (CRMTS). Speech production in response to print (CD) and in response to pictures of scenes (BD) were probed for both trained and untrained sentences, using a multiple baseline design across participants. All participants learned the trained relations, showed emergence of derived relations, and improved speech accuracy when tacting pictures of scenes. They were able to recombine sentence components and tact novel pictures using untrained sentences from the matrix. These results indicate that speech accuracy and generative sentence production can be improved in children with CI from interventions that incorporate EBI and matrix training. TRIAL REGISTRATION: CAAE#01454412.0.0000.5441 registered 01/29/2013.

Improving Spoken Language Outcomes for Children With Hearing Loss: Data-driven Instruction

OBJECTIVE

To assess the effects of data-driven instruction (DDI) on spoken language outcomes of children with cochlear implants and hearing aids.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective, matched-pairs comparison of post-treatment speech/language data of children who did and did not receive DDI.

SETTING

Private, spoken-language preschool for children with hearing loss.

SUBJECTS

Eleven matched pairs of children with cochlear implants who attended the same spoken language preschool. Groups were matched for age of hearing device fitting, time in the program, degree of predevice fitting hearing loss, sex, and age at testing.

INTERVENTION

Daily informal language samples were collected and analyzed over a 2-year period, per preschool protocol. Annual informal and formal spoken language assessments in articulation, vocabulary, and omnibus language were administered at the end of three time intervals: baseline, end of year one, and end of year two.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The primary outcome measures were total raw score performance of spontaneous utterance sentence types and syntax element use as measured by the Teacher Assessment of Spoken Language (TASL). In addition, standardized assessments (the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals--Preschool Version 2 (CELF-P2), the Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test (EOWPVT), the Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test (ROWPVT), and the Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation 2 (GFTA2)) were also administered and compared with the control group.

RESULTS

The DDI group demonstrated significantly higher raw scores on the TASL each year of the study. The DDI group also achieved statistically significant higher scores for total language on the CELF-P and expressive vocabulary on the EOWPVT, but not for articulation nor receptive vocabulary. Post-hoc assessment revealed that 78% of the students in the DDI group achieved scores in the average range compared with 59% in the control group.

CONCLUSION

The preliminary results of this study support further investigation regarding DDI to investigate whether this method can consistently and significantly improve the achievement of children with hearing loss in spoken language skills.

The Effects of Dual-Language Support on the Language Skills of Bilingual Children With Hearing Loss Who Use Listening Devices Relative to Their Monolingual Peers

Purpose

The present study investigated the effects of supporting both English and Spanish on language outcomes in bilingual children with hearing loss (HL) who used listening devices (cochlear implants and hearing aids). The English language skills of bilingual children with HL were compared to those of their monolingual English-speaking peers' with HL. The Spanish and English language skills of the bilingual participants were also compared.

Method

The language skills of 40 children with HL (20 bilingual Spanish–English-speaking and 20 monolingual English-speaking) were examined using the Auditory Comprehension, Expressive Communication, and total language scores from the Preschool Language Scale, Fourth Edition (Zimmerman, Steiner, & Pond, 2002a, 2002b).

Results

The English language skills of the bilingual participants were commensurate with those of their monolingual English-speaking peers on all 3 measures. The Spanish and English total language scores of the bilingual group were also comparable and highly correlated.

Conclusion

Both languages of bilingual children with HL can be supported without having adverse effects on the children's language development. Moreover, supporting both languages in bilingual children with HL may have multifarious positive ramifications.

Teaching Children With Hearing Impairment To Listen and Speak When the Home Language is Not English

Many speech-language pathologists (SLPs), deaf educators, and audiologists (AuDs) are finding themselves serving increasing numbers of children with hearing impairment (HI) who come from families that do not speak English. The majority of these families are likely to select listening and spoken language (LSL) as the primary method of communication for their children. This paper will present issues that need to be considered to support develop of LSL in more than one language for an ever-growing population of children with HI in the United States. Specific areas discussed include bilingual capabilities of some children with hearing loss, achievements of children with HI at a few institutions in North America, determining the language(s) of intervention, understanding current models of intervention, and implementing strategies that facilitate successful multilingual learning.