Vocabulary Development and Object Shape Recognition in Children with Cochlear Implants

Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of the study was to describe vocabulary development in children with cochlear implants (CI) and compare vocabulary development during a period of two to three years after CI activation to that in children with normal hearing. The association between expressive and receptive vocabulary development and object shape recognition is explored. Method: The study included 15 participants (Girls: N= 9, Boys: N=6) who were recruited from an audiological clinic in southern Sweden and a summer camp. Object shape recognition, receptive and expressive vocabulary were assessed longitudinally with tests and a questionnaire at three different time points after the CI activation. Results: The measure of productive vocabulary of children with CI varied from equivalent to hearing age peers’ results to below hearing age peers’ within the time period of the study. Two to three years after the CI activation, the group of participants had receptive vocabulary skills at or very close to their hearing age equivalent score. Conclusion: Object shape recognition did not predict vocabulary development within the current time frame but may turn out to be a predictor in later follow-ups of the participants with CI as shown in earlier studies of children with normal hearing. Smart attention training in young CI users as a complement to currently offered language intervention program may have the potential of supporting vocabulary development.