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Original Article

Is age at implant the only factor that counts? The influence of working memory on lexical and grammatical development in children with cochlear implants

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Pages 506-515 | Received 31 Mar 2003, Accepted 18 Dec 2003, Published online: 07 Jul 2009
 

Abstract

In this study, we explored the influence of time factors (age at implant, time with cochlear implant and age), complex working memory and phonological short-term memory on lexical and grammatical development in congenitally deaf children with cochlear implants. Fifteen children (aged 5 years 4 months to 11 years 5 months) were examined with the use of several linguistic and cognitive measures after a minimum of 18 months of implant use. Phonological short-term memory was assessed with non-word repetition, where the percentage of correctly repeated consonants and vowels was counted. For the assessment of lexical acquisition, a novel word learning task was administered. Receptive and expressive grammar was tested. Our results corroborate earlier findings on the influence of phonological short-term memory on novel word learning. The percentage of vowels correctly produced in non-word repetition was more important in this group than age at implant, not only for novel word learning, but also for receptive and expressive grammar.

Sumario

En este estudio, exploramos la influencia sobre el desarrollo léxico y gramatical de los factores temporales (edad de implantación, edad y tiempo transcurrido con el implante), de la memoria activa compleja y de la memoria fonológica a corto plazo, en niños con sorderas congénitas y portadores de un implante coclear. Se examinaron quince niños (con edades de 5 años y 4 meses a 11 años y 5 meses) por medio de varias medidas cognitivas y lingüísticas, luego de un mínimo de 18 meses de uso del implante. La memoria fonológica a corto plazo fue evaluada por medio de la repetición de sonidos sin contenido semántico, donde se tabuló el porcentaje de vocales y consonantes correctamente repetidas. Para la evaluación de la adquisición del léxico, se administró una novedosa tarea de aprendizaje de palabras y se evaluó la gramática receptiva y expresiva. Nuestros resultados corroboraron hallazgos anteriores sobre la influencia de la memoria fonológica a corto plazo en el aprendizaje de nuevas palabras. El porcentaje de vocales correctamente producidas por medio de la repetición de sonidos sin contenido semántico fue más importante en este grupo que la edad de implantación, no sólo para el aprendizaje de palabras nuevas, sino también en cuanto a la gramática receptiva y expresiva.

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