Lexical and grammatical abilities in deaf Italian preschoolers: the role of duration of formal language experience.
We evaluated language development in deaf Italian preschoolers with hearing parents, taking into account the duration of formal language experience (i.e., the time elapsed since wearing a hearing aid and beginning language education) and different methods of language education. Twenty deaf children were matched with 20 hearing children for age and with another 20 hearing children for duration of experience. Deaf children showed a significant delay in both vocabulary and grammar when compared to same-age hearing children yet a similar development compared to hearing children matched for duration of formal language experience. The delay in linguistic development could be attributable to shorter formal language experience and not to deafness itself. Deaf children exposed to spoken language accompanied by signs tended to understand and produce more words than children exposed only to spoken language. We suggest that deaf children be evaluated based on their linguistic experience and cognitive and communicative potential.
Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Dipartimento di Psicologia Dinamica e Clinica, Università di Roma Sapienza, Via Nomentana, 56 00161 Rome, Italy. pasquale.rinaldi@istc.cnr.it
Pasquale
P
Rinaldi
Cristina
C
Caselli
D000367:Age Factors; D001076:Aptitude; D002675:Child, Preschool; D032882:Comprehension; D003638:Deafness / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D007803:Language Arts; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D012931:Social Environment; D013060:Speech; D013997:Time Factors; D014825:Vocabulary