ENHANCEMENT OF EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE IN PRELINGUALLY DEAF-CHILDREN WITHCOCHLEAR IMPLANTS

Expressive language skills were assessed in two groups of prelingually -deafened children using the Reynell Developmental Language Scales (RD LS). Results from a group of 89 unimplanted subjects provided cross-se ctional data which suggested that profoundly deaf children without imp lants, on average, could only be expected to make 5 months of expressi ve language growth in one year. Twenty-three children who received coc hlear implants made up the second group of subjects and were administe red the RDLS at three intervals: preimplant, 6-, and 12-months postimp lant. The scores obtained at the post-implant intervals were then comp ared to scores that would be predicted on the basis of maturation alon e, without the implant (these predictions were formulated based on the data obtained from the unimplanted subjects). At the 12-month postimp lant interval, the observed mean language score was significantly high er than the predicted score. Although the mean group data were extreme ly encouraging, wide inter-subject variability was observed. Although the implant subjects, as a group, were substantially delayed compared with their normal hearing peers, their rate of language growth was fou nd to match that of hearing peers, following implantation. Thus, the g ap between chronological age and language age, which normally widens o ver time in deaf children, remained constant. Preliminary analyses ove r the first 2.5 years post-implant are consistent with this trend. The se results suggest that early implantation (before age 3) might be ben eficial to profoundly deaf children because the language delays at the time of implantation would be much smaller.