The Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge of Persian- Speaking Children with Cochlear Implant Compared to Normal-Hearing Peers

Abstract

Background and Aim: Early intervention with cochlear implantation for deaf children helps them acquire receptive and expressive language. Word learning is one aspect of language acquisition. The current study aimed to evaluate receptive vocabulary knowledge of deaf children who had received Cochlear Implant (CI) compared to their Normal-Hearing (NH) peers.

Methods: This is a descriptive-analytical study with a cross-sectional design that was conducted on 90 Persian-speaking children (30 with CIs and 60 with NH). The Hearing Age (HA) of children with CIs ranged from 2 to 57 months, and their Chronological Age (CA) was in the range of 32-71 months. The Receptive Picture Vocabulary Test in Persian (RPVT-P) was used to evaluate the children’s vocabulary knowledge. The t-test and Pearson’s correlation test were used to analyze and compare the data.

Results: There was a significant relationship between the RPVT-P total scores and CA in both NH children (r=0.842, p<0.001), and CI children (r=0.824, p<0.001). There was a significant relationship between the RPVT-P total scores and HA in children with CI (r=0.658, p<0.001). There was a significant difference between the two groups of children in the scores of each RPVT-P item (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Persian-speaking children with CI gradually develop their receptive vocabulary knowledge, but they do not reach the same level of skills as their NH peers. Children with CI can learn various vocabularies.