the phonemic awareness skills of cochlear implant children and children with normal hearing in primary school

objectives: phonemic awareness skills have a significant impact on children speech and language. the purpose of this study was investigating the phonemic awareness skills of children with cochlear implant and normal hearing peers in primary school. methods: phonemic awareness subscales of phonological awareness test were administered to 30 children with cochlear implantation at the first to sixth grades of primary school and 30 children with normal hearing who were matched in age with cochlear implant group. all of children were between 6 to 11 years old. children with cochlear implant had at least 1 to 2 years of implant experience and they were over 5 years when they receive implantation. children with cochlear implant were selected from special education centers in tehran and children with normal hearing were recruited from primary schools in tehran. the phonemic awareness skills were assessed in both groups. results: the results showed that the mean scores of phonemic awareness skills in cochlear implant children were significantly lower than children with normal hearing (p