[Speech comprehension and speech usage in hearing impaired children--an empirical follow-up study]

In a mean follow-up duration of 19 months the oral language development of 18 sensorineural hearing-impaired children without multiple handicaps was serially measured at regular intervals (three time points t1 - t3) using the receptive and expressive language scales of the "Münchener Funktionellen Entwicklungsdiagnostik für das 2. und 3. Lebensjahr". Results are presented as developmental quotients (DQ). In case of language retardation the rate of language development is less than one. At t1, the average language development was considerably delayed (DQ receptive: 0.37; DQ expressive: 0.51) and slowly increased over time (receptive: 0.37/0.48/0.55; expressive: 0.51/0.51/0.55) at approximately half the rate of normal hearing children. With the hearing-impairment increasing, the DQs became smaller. Children who were identified as hearing-impaired before the age of 18 months exhibited on average generally greater DQs. A significant impact of speech/language therapy on language development at t3 could not be demonstrated. Finally, the results and health care requirements were discussed.