As a Speech Language Pathologist, it is very important that I explain to the students why we do the things we do, and and let them observe to see those things take place. With children who have a profound hearing loss, like Caden, they often have delayed expressive and receptive language and speech skills if unaided. Most normal hearing children begin babbling at six months, however most hearing impaired children begin to babble at 18 months (Schauwers, Gillis, Daemers, De Beukelaer, De Ceulaer, Yperman, et al, 2004). By the time hearing impaired children are babbling at 18 months, normal hearing children typically have a vocabulary of about 110 words (Mayne, 1998).
You can see how early cochlear implantation will help stop the delays in children by exposing them to vocabulary and sounds earlier in life; thus, they do not miss out on the developmental norms that normal hearing children experience. In a study in Europe, the youngest girl ever implanted received her cochlear implant at five months in the right ear and then fifteen months in the left ear. By the time the patient was three years old, her expressive and receptive vocabulary was above the median of her hearing peers (Schaewuers, Gillis, Daemers, De Beukelaer, De Ceulaer, Yperman, et al, 2004).
This is a podcast in the voice of a clinician who is explaining to a student observer the importance of early intervention, and the typical vocabulary development of hearing/deaf children.
Text of the podcast:
When children like Caden have profound or total hearing losses, they are more than likely not capable of hearing any speech unless proper amplification is utilized (Reed 2005). Luckily, Caden had received early intervention so we have a better chance of him having age appropriate expressive and receptive vocabulary levels compared to if he was identified later in his life. In one study I recently read about, children who were identified at eight months of age with a profound hearing loss and no amplification in any way were examined at three years old, and found that they had the vocabulary level equivalent to a 12-month-old child with normal hearing (Reed 2005). Sometimes children with Cochlear Implants show delays with grammatical morphemes, however they do learn them in the appropriate order, therefore they generally do not have a disorder (Seung 2005).
Typically, normal hearing children have an expressive vocabulary of about 110 words at 18 months of age; compared to these children, children with hearing loss display an average delay of eleven months for expressive language and eight months for receptive language (Mayne 1998). These differences are often based on the child’s degree of hearing loss.
In order for children to have good vocabulary development results with cochlear implants, intensive training by the Speech Language Pathologist is very important. I hope you will see why working with children like Caden is very rewarding and so beneficial for his language.
Click here to listen to the Podcast.
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1.Voice: At first I thought this piece was in the parent voice, but I’ve come to the conclusion that it is in clinician voice.
2.Audience: The audience is other professionals or any parent who is considering implantation.
3.Say Back: The author is informing the reader of what’s to come if a child goes unaided. The author explains that a child with a hearing loss has a limited vocabulary and both delayed expressive and receptive skills.
4.Bless: I like how the author discussed a normal hearing child to a dead child. I think it is important to know the set backs if the child goes unaided.
5.Address: I think that this is a great piece of work. I like how the author. Are there any other significant difference between a normal hearing child and a child with a hearing loss that affect the development of language?
Comment by arfalbo — November 9, 2006 @ 9:13 pm
Voice: This podcast is in the clinician’s voice.
Audience: The audience of the clinician is a student observer, but the audience for this podcast could be anyone interested in learning more about kids with cochlear implants.
Say Back: The author is saying that children who are identified with a hearing loss early on and are implanted early have a better chance at catching up with the language skills of their peers. The author also discusses the delays in receptive and expressive vocabulary when compared to children who don’t have a hearing loss.
Bless: I like that this is what the clinician would tell a student observer so you can use some of the “technical jargon.” I felt like I might be in the Peds room observing and this was something that Amy might come back and say to us after watching one of her kids who has an implant. Good job!
Address: Do you know what the expressive vocabulary of a child with a cochlear implant is at 18 months of age (if they were implanted at 12 mos — if that was when Caden was implanted)? It would be interesting to know that to make a comparison to the 110 words of a child without a hearing loss.
Comment by Lacie Deeds — November 14, 2006 @ 8:25 pm