I-Search Paper
Introducing/Questioning
Essential Question:
What do we know about literacy development in preschool children with cochlear implants that were implanted before the age of 3.
Support Questions:
1. What is the relationship between language and literacy?
2. What is a cochlear implant?
3. What to cochlear implants do?
4. Who we are talking about?
Why? / What I know?:
I decided that I wanted to do this question, because I am really interested in cochlear implants, and this could help me understand another way that they can help a child. I did not know much as I am starting out, but I do know a little about cochlear implants. I know that cochlear implants are placed in the cochlea and they have both external and internal components. Some are placed under the skin in the mastoid bone and in the cochlea like the electrode array, but others such as speech processor and microphone are worn on the outside of the child usually behind their ear. This allows the speech signals to bypass the damaged hair cells and be transmitted to the brain through the electrode array. I also know that being able to hear is an important part of learning language so if a child can hear with the cochlear implant it should help them become more proficient in their reading and writing. Children learn language from first listening to other people use the language. If they have limited exposure to this then can cause them to fall behind in language development. When looking at the age of implantation I know that the sooner they become implanted the more chance it is for them to learn language better so that is why I am specifically looking at children that were implanted before the age of 3. It is much easier for young children to learn language than it is for older ones because their auditory pathways in the brain are still forming so the sooner that the child gets implanted and receives auditory information to the auditory pathway the sooner they can get started learning spoken language. Since language directly affects your literacy skills this could also affect how the child will learn to read and write. If the child uses manual communication sometimes the syntax is not the same as English so when they have to learn to read and write it is totally different for them and can in turn cause them to have a harder time learning reading and writing. This is why I want to find out how the cochlear implant helps them develop better literacy skills.
Searching:
· When you are born you hear all kinds of sounds around you. One of the most important sounds that you will hear around you is your parent’s voices. This helps baby’s start to learning their language. The first three years of life baby’s brains are developing and soaking in all kinds of information. This makes this an important time for babies to be able to hear the language and sounds around them. During this crucial time period if the sounds are not received and utilized by the child it can be more difficult and less efficient for them to develop their language. If the child can not hear during this time period they are not getting enough exposure to their language which can cause them to be behind in their development or have no development of language at all. This can cause them to also be behind in their literacy skills.
By Six months of age research has shown that children can recognize most sounds of their language. If they can not hear these sounds then they have no exposure to them. This may cause them to be behind in their language development which can cause other problems later on in school like literacy problems. (Speech and Language developmental milestones.) Language is said to be the basis of literacy. Literacy has many definitions in the Encarta Dictionary. The first is the “ability to read and write to a competent level”, and the other is “knowledge of or competence in a subject or area of activity”. We are mainly talking about the first definition of reading and writing. If children do not develop language, or they have a delay in their language they may have problems with their literacy skills. (Gottfred, K) Research that has been done has shown repeatedly that there is a strong bond between the development of literacy and oral language skills.
Younger children like the ones we are talking about that are under the age of 3 with cochlear implants don’t develop their oral language skills on time or at all, because of set backs in not being able to hear. They may not receive everything that they need for support and intervention which can cause them to have problems with their literacy skills such as reading and writing later in school. That is why Audiologists and Speech Language Pathologists need to work together to make sure that the child is receiving the best intervention possible. One way that can help a child with a hearing loss is putting hearing aids on a child, but if the child can not hear well enough with the aids or they are not helping at all a cochlear implant may be suggested. If they have a severe to profound hearing loss and they are 12 months in age or older then they can be implanted with a cochlear implant.
A cochlear implant is a device that sends an electrical signal directly to the auditory nerve. Unlike the hearing aid that just amplifies the sound that is sent through the whole ear. The cochlear implant by passes the hearing pathway through the ear and send the signal directly to the auditory nerve. The cochlear implant consists of external and internal components. The external components consist of a microphone that picks up the sound, a speech processor that decodes the sound into electrical impulses, and a transmitter system. Inside there is a magnet that holds the external portion to the head, and an internal electrode array that is surgically implanted into the child’s cochlea. The signal is then sent from the external speech processor to the internal electrode array that is placed in the cochlea, and sends the signal directly to the auditory nerve which carries the signal to the brain. The brain then learns how to interpret this signal and perceives this as “hearing.” This device does not give the child normal hearing, and it will take time to learn language after the implant through intensive therapy, but it allows them to be able to hear the sounds around them, and helps them develop their language and literacy skills.
A study was done by Nicholas & Geers in 2006 on preschool children that have cochlear implants. They found that children that are profoundly deaf most of the time achieve spoken language skills closer to their peers after receiving the implant and therapy. This then can directly show that if cochlear implants helps their language skills then it will possibly help their literacy skills also making the children closer to their peers in literacy skills. The sooner that a child is implanted the more success they may be able to make with both their language and literacy skills. It stated that children who receive a CI by age 3 years have shown to close the gap between their language abilities and other children that have no hearing problems at their same chronological age.
Language skills were also shown to increase the longer that the child has their CI. These scores were showing that they have helped the children develop their language skills to a higher capacity then they had before the surgery which can in turn help them later on to develop higher literacy skills. Allowing them to be able to catch up on not only speaking and hearing other people, but it will help them later on to be able to read, write, and ultimately allow them to catch up with their peers. A school called DePaul School for the Hearing and Speech started a marketing campaign to promote the success of their students in developing language and literacy skills. When looking at this school you may not expect to see that the children that attend their school that were implanted early and are in the 8th grade are reading on 10th and 11th grade reading levels.Allowing these children to be able to hear the sounds and voices around them when they are in the first 3 years of their life allows them to learn their language. If they do have problems with their hearing, and do not receive the information from the sounds and voices around them then a cochlear implant can help them if hearing aids are not enough. This will ultimately allow them to receive this information, develop their language skills, and in turn can help them have better literacy skills like their other peers later on in their education.
Concluding/Answering:
What I found when doing this research for this project was that language and literacy are closely related to one another. If you improve one it can help you improve the other. The earlier that children are implanted with cochlear implants the easier it will be for them to catch up to their peers in language which can allow them to be the at the same level as their peers when learning literacy. Especially if they are implanted before the age of 3 years old.
