Predictors of Vocabulary Outcomes in Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing From Spanish-Speaking Families

Abstract

Purpose The goal of this study was to identify predictors of expressive vocabulary in young Spanish-speaking children who are deaf or hard of hearing living in the United States. Method This cross-sectional study considered 53 children with bilateral hearing loss between 8 and 34 months of age ( M = 24, SD = 6.9). Demographic variables, variables related to the hearing loss, and intervention variables were included in a hierarchical regression analysis to predict expressive vocabulary quotients from the MacArthur Inventario del Desarrollo de Habilidades Comunicativas (Communicative Development Inventories; Jackson-Maldonado et al., 2003 ). Results Chronological age, degree of hearing loss, functional hearing ability ratings, age of enrollment in early intervention, and the interaction between chronological age and age of intervention accounted for 61.5% of the vocabulary variance. Children who received intervention by 6 months of age achieved significantly higher vocabulary outcomes than children who started intervention later. Conclusion The children's mean vocabulary outcomes were below average when compared with hearing peers. This was especially true for older children, children with moderately-severe-to-profound hearing loss, and children who began intervention after 6 months of age. This delay in vocabulary outcomes has the potential to interfere with future reading and academic outcomes.

Frequency of Early Intervention Sessions and Vocabulary Skills in Children with Hearing Loss

“…EHDI programs follow the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing (JCIH) 1-3-6 guidelines, which state that all newborns should be screened for hearing loss by one month of age, and those with hearing loss should be identified by 3 months and enrolled in intervention by 6 months of age. Children who are deaf or hard of hearing who meet these guidelines, on average, achieve higher language skills than those who do not [ 1 ]; however, as a group, children with hearing loss often still do not achieve age-appropriate language milestones [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ].…”

Revisión sistemática sobre pruebas de evaluación neuropsicológica para niños con discapacidad auditiva

“…Respaldados por diferentes autores, (16,21,22) los resultados mostraron que la Prueba de Vocabulario Peabody (PVP) (16) constituye uno de los instrumentos más utilizados y confiables para evaluar el nivel de vocabulario receptivo y dominio léxico, además de la posibilidad de ser adaptado a diferentes contextos. Otros investigadores (34) abogan por la prueba de Habilidades Comunicativas y Nivel de Vocabulario (IDHC) para ese fin, pero otros (13) lo hacen mediante el Test de Vocabulario de Boston.…”

“…Con respecto al funcionamiento ejecutivo en niños con deficiencias auditivas, algunos estudios (14,17,34) muestran una relación de esta dimensión con el lenguaje; aunque, este posicionamiento tiene detractores. (20) Kronenberger (41) afirma que la organización viso-espacial puede ser similar en niños sordos y normoyentes, ya que ambos casos conservan el canal visual y la memoria espacial; mientras que, el desempeño del funcionamiento ejecutivo resulta casuístico, pudiendo verse influenciado por algunas variables como el nivel de pérdida auditiva o la edad de implantación e intervención.…”

Retrieval Practice and Word Learning in Children with Hearing Loss

“…Multiple studies have shown that children with HL show smaller vocabularies and wordlearning skills than hearing peers (de Diego-Lázaro et al, 2018, 2021Lederberg et al, 2000;Pittman et al, 2005;Yoshinaga-Itano et al, 2017). However, only a few studies have tested the effectiveness of intervention strategies for children with HL.…”