title: The effect of age at cochlear implant initial stimulation on expressive language growth in infants and toddlers.
abstract: This study examined the growth of expressive language skills in children who received cochlear implants (CIs) in infancy. Repeated language measures were gathered from 29 children who received CIs between 10 and 40 months of age. Both cross-sectional and growth curve analyses were used to assess the relationship between expressive language outcomes and CI experience. A beneficial effect of earlier implantation on expressive language growth was found. Growth curve analysis showed that growth was more rapid in children implanted as infants than those implanted as toddlers. Age at initial stimulation accounted for 14.6% of the variance of the individual differences in expressive language growth rates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. j-tomblin@uiowa.edu
authors.forename: J Bruce
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Tomblin
authors.forename: Brittan A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Barker
authors.forename: Linda J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Spencer
authors.forename: Xuyang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Bruce J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Gantz
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019929:Cochlear Implantation; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007802:Language; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014705:Verbal Behavior