Cognitive Skills and Academic Achievement of Deaf Children with Cochlear Implants

Abstract

Objective

To compare cognitive performance between children with cochlear implants (CI) and normal-hearing peers; provide information about correlations between cognitive performance, basic academic achievement, and medical/audiological and social background variables; and assess the predictor quality of these variables for cognition.

Study Design

Cross-sectional study with comparison group, diagnostic test assessment.

Setting

Data were collected in the authors’ clinic (children with CI) and in Austrian schools (normal-hearing children).

Subjects and Methods

Forty children with CI (of the initial 65 children eligible for this study), aged 7 to 11 years, and 40 normal-hearing children, matched by age and sex, were tested with (a) the Culture Fair Intelligence Test (CFIT); (b) the Number Sequences subtest of the Heidelberger Rechentest 1-4 (HRT); (c) Comprehension, (d) Coding, (e) Digit Span, and (f) Vocabulary subtests of HAWIK III (German WISC III); (g) the Corsi Block Tapping Test; (h) the Arithmetic Operations subtests of the HRT; and (i) Salzburger Lese–Screening (SLS, reading). In addition, medical, audiological, social, and educational data from children with CI were collected.

Results

The children with CI equaled normal-hearing children in (a), (d), (e), (g), (h), and (i) and performed significantly worse in (b), (c) and (f). Background variables correlate significantly with cognitive skills and academic achievement. Medical/audiological variables explain 44.3% of the variance in CFT1 (CFIT, younger children). Social variables explain 55% of CFT1 and 24.5% of the Corsi test.

Conclusions

This study augments the knowledge about cognitive skills and academic skills of children with CI. Cognitive performance is dependent on the early feasibility to hear and the social/educational background of the family.

Keywords

cognitive skills reading arithmetic hearing loss pediatric cochlear implantation

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Yoon

. Pediatric cochlear implantation. Curr Opin Pediatr. 2011;23:346-350.

Geers

Tobey

Moog

Brenner

. Long-term outcomes of cochlear implantation in the preschool years: from elementary grades to high school. Int J Audiol. 2008;47(suppl 2):S21-S30.

Connor

Zwolan

. Examining multiple sources of influence on the reading comprehension skills of children who use cochlear implants. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2004;47:509-526.

Connor

Craig

Raudenbusch

. The age at which young deaf children receive cochlear implants and their vocabulary and speech-production growth: is there an added value for early implantation? Ear Hear. 2006;27:628-644.

Hayes

Geers

Treiman

Moog

. Receptive vocabulary development in deaf children with cochlear implants: achievement in an intensive auditory-oral educational setting. Ear Hear. 2009;30:128-135.

Geers

Nicholas

Sedey

. Language skills of children with early cochlear implantation. Ear Hear. 2003;24(1)(suppl):46S-58S.

Wiley

Jahnke

Meinzen-Derr

Choo

. Perceived qualitative benefits of cochlear implants in children with multi-handicaps. Int J Pediatric Otorhinolaryngol. 2005;69:791-798.

Repovš

Baddely

. The multi-component model of working memory: explorations in experimental cognitive psychology. Neuroscience. 2006;28;139:5-21.

Baddeley

Hitch

. Working Memory. In: Gower

, ed. The Psychology of Learning and Motivation. Vol 8. London: Academic Press; 1974.

10.

Baddeley

. Working Memory. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; 1986.

11.

Baddeley

. The episodic buffer: a new component of working memory? Trends Cogn Sci. 2000;4:417-423.

12.

Gathercole

Alloway

. Practitioner review: short-term and working memory impairments in neurodevelopmental disorders: diagnosis and remedial support. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2006;47:4-15.

13.

Alloway

Gathercole

Kirkwood

. The cognitive and behavioral characteristics of children with low working memory. Child Dev. 2009;80:606-621.

14.

Knudsen

. Fundamental components of attention. Annu Rev Neurosci. 2007;30:57-78.

15.

Finneran

Francis

Leonard

. Sustained attention in children with specific language impairment (SLI). J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2009;52:915-929.

16.

Majerus

Heiligenstein

Gautherot

Poncelet

Van der Linden

. Impact of auditory selective attention on verbal short-term memory and vocabulary development. J Exp Child Psychol. 2009;103:66-86.

17.

Maehler

Schuchard

. Working memory functioning in children with learning disabilities: does intelligence make a difference? J Intellect Disabil Res. 2009;53:3-10.

18.

Cowan

Fristoe

Elliott

Brunner

Saults

. Scope of attention, control of attention, and intelligence in children and adults. Mem Cognit. 2006;34:1754-1768.

19.

Gathercole

Tiffany

Briscoe

Thorn

, ALSPAC team. Developmental consequences of poor phonological short-term memory function in childhood: a longitudinal study. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2005;46:598-611.

20.

Kyttälä

Aunio

Hauamäki

. Working memory resources in young children with mathematical difficulties. Scand J Psychol. 2010;51:1-15.

21.

Krajewski

Schneider

. Exploring the impact of phonological awareness, visual-spatial working memory, and preschool quantity-number competencies on mathematics achievement in elementary school: findings from a 3-year longitudinal study. J Exp Child Psychol. 2009;103:516-531.

22.

Horn

Davis

RAO

Pisoni

. Development of visual attention skills in prelingually deaf children who use cochlear implants. Ear Hear. 2005;26:389-408.

23.

Tharpe

Ashmed

Rothpletz

. Visual attention in children with normal hearing, children with hearing aids, and children with cochlear implants. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2002;45:403-413.

24.

Wass

Ibertsson

Lyxell

. Cognitive and linguistic skills in Swedish children with cochlear implants: measures of accuracy and latency as indicators of development. Scand J Psychol. 2008;49:559-576.

25.

Fagan

Pisoni

Horn

. Neuropsychological correlates of vocabulary, reading, and working memory in deaf children with cochlear implants. J Deaf Deaf Educ. 2007;12:461-471.

26.

Dawson

Busby

McKay

. Short-term auditory memory in children using cochlear implants and its relevance to receptive language. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2002;45:789-801.

27.

Dillon

Burkholder

Cleary

. Nonword repetition by children with cochlear implants: accuracy ratings from normal-hearing listeners. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2004;47:1103-1116.

28.

Willstedt-Svensson

Lofqvist

Almqvist

. Is age at implant the only factor that counts? The influence of working memory on lexical and grammatical development in children with cochlear implants. Int J Audiol. 2004;43:506-515.

29.

Watson

Titterton

Henry

Toner

. Auditory sensory memory and working memory processes in children with normal hearing and cochlear implants. Audiol Neurootol. 2007;12:65-76.

30.

Lyxell

Sahlén

Wass

. Cognitive development in children with cochlear implants: relations to reading and communication. Int J Audiol. 2008;47(suppl 2):47-52.

31.

Johnson

Goswami

. Phonological awareness, vocabulary, and reading in deaf children with cochlear implants. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2010;53:237-261.

32.

Thoutenhoofd

. Cochlear implanted pupils in Scottish schools: 4-year school attainment data (2000-2004). J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ. 2006;11:171-188.

33.

Mukari

Ling

Ghani

. Educational performance of pediatric cochlear implant recipients in mainstream classes. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2007;71:231-240.

34.

Motasaddi-Zarandy

Rezai

Mahdavi-Arab

Golestan

. The scholastic achievement of profoundly deaf children with cochlear implants compared to their normal peers. Arch Iran Med. 2009;12:441-447.

35.

Punch

Hyde

. Children with cochlear implants in Australia: educational settings, supports, and outcomes. J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ. 2010;15:405-421.

36.

Pulsifer

Salorio

Niparko

. Developmental, audiological, and speech perception functioning in children after cochlear implant surgery. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2003;157:552-558.

37.

Schlumberger

Narbona

Manrique

. Non-verbal development of children with deafness with and without cochlear implants. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2004;46:599-606.

38.

Khan

Edward

Langdon

. The cognition and behaviour of children with cochlear implants, children with hearing aids and their hearing peers: a comparison. Audiol Neurootol. 2005;10:117-126.

39.

Lee

Hwang

. Intellectual ability of Mandarin-speaking children using cochlear implants. Audiol Neurootol. 2008;13:302-308.

40.

Cattell

. Handbook for the Culture Fair Intelligence Test, Scale 1. Champaign, IL: Institute for Personality and Ability Testing; 1966.

41.

Cattell

Weiss

Osterland

. Grundintelligenztest Skala 1–CFT 1. Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe; 1997.

42.

Weiß

. Grundintelligenztest Skala 2 (CFT 20) mit Wortschatztest (WS) und Zahlenfolgentest (ZF). Handanweisung (4. überarbeitete Auflage): Westermann Test. Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe; 1998.

43.

Weiß

. Grundintelligenztest Skala 2-Revision (CFT 20-R) mit Wortschatztest und Zahlenfolgentest–Revision (WS/ZF-R). Handanweisung. Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe; 2008.

44.

Haffner

Baro

Parzer

Resch

. Heidelberger Rechentest (HRT). Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe; 2005.

45.

Tewes

Rossmann

Schallberger

. HAWIK III. Verlag Hans. Bern, Germany: Huber; 1999.

46.

Wechsler

. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. 3rd ed. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation; 1991.

47.

Burkholder

Pisoni

. Speech timing and working memory in profoundly deaf children after cochlear implantation. J Exp Child Psychol. 2003;85:63-88.

48.

Pisoni

Clary

. Measures of working memory span and verbal rehearsal speed in deaf children after cochlear implantation. Ear Hear. 2003;24(suppl):106S-120S.

49.

Petermann

. Hamburg-Wechsler Intelligenztest für Kinder–IV (HAWIK-IV). Bern, Germany: Huber, 2007.

50.

Schelling

. Corsi Block-Tapping Test. Mödling, Austria: Schuhfried; 1996.

51.

Mayringer

Wimmer

. Salzburger Lese- Screening für die Klassenstufen 1-4. Bern, Germany: Huber; 2005.

52.

Auer

Gruber

Mayringer

Wimmer

. Salzburger Lese- Screening für die Klassenstufen 5-8. Bern, Germany: Huber; 2005/2008.

53.

Sininger

Grimes

Christensen

. Auditory development in early amplified children: factors influencing auditory-based communication outcomes in children with hearing loss. Ear Hear. 2010;31:166-185.

54.

Fisher

. What’s in the name? Or how rocks and stones are different from bunnies and rabbits. J Exp Child Psychol. 2010;105:198-212.

55.

Hauser

O’Hearn

McKee

Steider

Thew

. Deaf epistemology: deafhood and deafness. Am Ann Deaf. 2010;154:486-492.

56.

Melchior

Moffitt

Milne

Poulton

Caspi

. Why do children from socioeconomically disadvantaged families suffer from poor health when they reach adulthood? A life-course study. Am J Epidemiol. 2007;166:966-974.

57.

Green

Scott

McDonald

. Performance of cochlear implant recipients with GJB2-related deafness. Am J Med Genet. 2002;109:167-170.

58.

Pierson

Caudle

Krull

Haymond

Tonini

Oghalai

. Cognition in children with sensorineural hearing loss: etiologic considerations. Laryngoscope. 2007;117:1661-1665.

59.

Cleary

Pisoni

Geers

. Some measures of verbal and spatial working memory in eight- and nine-year-old hearing-impaired children with cochlear implants. Ear Hear. 2001;22:395-411.

60.

Dye

Hauser

Bavelier

. Is visual selective attention in deaf individuals enhanced or deficient? The case of the useful field of view. PLoS One. 2009;4:e5640.

61.

Dye

Bavelier

. Attentional enhancements and deficits in deaf populations: an integrative review. Restor Neurol Neurosci. 2010;28:181-192.

62.

Quittner

Smith

Osberger

. The impact of audition on the development of visual-attention. Psychol Sci. 1994;5:347-353.

63.

Smith

Quittner

Osberger

Miyamoto

. Audition and visual attention: the developmental trajectory in deaf and hearing populations. Dev Psychol. 1998;34:840-850.

64.

Yucel

Derim

. The effect of implantation age on visual attention skills. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2008;72:869-877.

65.

Shin

Kim

Park

Kim

. Comparison of cognitive function in deaf children between before and after cochlear implant. Ear Hear. 2007;28(2)(suppl):22S-28S.

66.

Archbold

Harris

O’Donoghue

Nikolopoulos

White

Richmond

. Reading abilities after cochlear implantation: the effect of age at implantation on outcomes at 5 and 7 years after implantation. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2008;72:1471-1478.

67.

International Labor Office (ILO). ISCO-88: International Standard Classification of Occupations. Geneva, Switzerland: ILO; 1990. www.warwick.ac.uk/ier/