Measuring language development in deaf children with cochlear implants

For the past ten years profoundly deaf children in the UK have been able to receive cochlear implants as an alternative to conventional hearing aids. The South of England Cochlear Implant Centre (SOECIC) has implanted 78 profoundly deaf children. As cochlear implantation is still a relatively new procedure it is important to record progress comprehensively. One of the main aims of implantation is to give the recipient access to sound so that, in the case of a child, they can acquire speech and language. There is a need for a test that assesses a wide range of language abilities and which is also sensitive to change. The Preschool Language Scales-3 (UK) (PLS-3)(Zimmerman et al. 1997) has been standardised on a British population and was chosen to be part of a test battery at SOECIC. The test assesses skills from birth to seven years of age and has been administered at regular intervals to the clinic population. The outcome results show that average scores improve with use following implantation.