Language development in deaf or hard-of-hearing children with additional disabilities: type matters!
L Cupples, T Y C Ching, G Leigh and 8 others
PMID 29732729WHAT IT FOUND
From 3 to 5 years, overall average language scores were steady, but children with autism, cerebral palsy, or developmental delay had score drops while children with other disabilities improved.
Oral-only early communication was linked to better vocabulary.
Key findings
01Average language scores for children with autism, cerebral palsy, or developmental delay dropped by approximately 5 standard score points over the 2-year period, while scores for children with other disabilities increased by 5 to 8 standard score points.
02Around 75 to 80% of children were within 1 SD of their 3-year score at 5 years, but 17.2% of children with autism, cerebral palsy, or developmental delay declined more than 1 SD, compared with 4.8% of children with other disabilities.
03Greater improvements in spoken language outcomes were associated with oral-only communication in early intervention, especially for receptive vocabulary.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only 67 of 180 children with an additional disability had usable data at both 3 and 5 years. Missing data were not evenly spread across disability types, which may bias conclusions. Many missing cases happened because children could not cope with formal testing, including when nonstandard administration was needed. Diagnoses came from parents and qualified professionals, not from the LOCHI study itself. The PPVT-4 had fewer complete data, especially in group A, so vocabulary findings are less secure. Oral communication mode was associated with vocabulary, but the study cannot show it caused better outcomes. Language scores were obtained using oral communication only. Nonverbal ability was measured only at 5 years, not at 3 years.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The paper is tagged as supported by NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read oral-only communication as a proven cause of better vocabulary. The authors state that a causal interpretation cannot be attributed to this association.