Bilingual oral language proficiency in children with cochlear implants

To document oral language proficiency in a group of prelingually deaf bilingual children with a cochlear implant.

Using a repeated-measures paradigm, oral language skills in the first and second language were evaluated at 2 yearly intervals after implantation. Language data were compared with normative data from children with normal hearing.

Twelve deaf children between the ages of 20 months and 15 years who had received a cochlear implant before the age of 3 years.

First-language skills were assessed using 1 of 2 standardized tests, either the Oral and Written Language Scales or the Reynell Developmental Language Scales, depending on the child's age. Second-language proficiency was assessed using the Student Oral Language Observation Matrix.

Average standard scores in the first language fell solidly within the average range of normal-hearing peers. Second-language skills showed steady improvement from year 1 to year 2, along a continuum that reflected the amount and intensity of exposure of the child to the second language and the length of experience with the implant.

A cochlear implant can make oral proficiency in more than 1 language possible for prelingually deaf children.