Communication with Deaf Pre - School Children Using Cochlear Implants

This study evaluated the communicative, social, and emotional development of 22 deaf Swedish pre-school children with cochlear implants over a 2-year period. Video-recordings (every 3 months) and observations of the children in natural interactional settings at home and school as well as interviews with parents and teachers provided the study data. The children were between 2 and 6 years old when the study began and between 4 and 8 years when the last video recordings were made. By the end of the study children had had their implants between 1 and 3.5 years. Sixteen of the children were pre-lingually deaf. No clear patterns were found regarding the effects of variables like time and cause of deafness, time with implant, or time of operation on the children's ability to perceive and produce spoken language at the end of the 2 years. Analysis of videotapes did identify common traits and attitudes of families where the children developed more favorably including establishment of a well functioning communication between the child and parents before the implantation and use of a child-centered communication style by parents and teachers. Another study of the children's continuing development is planned. (Contains 29 references.) (DB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. COMMUNICATION WITH DEAF PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN USING COCHLEAR IMPLANTS