title: Word fluency performance and strategies in children with cochlear implants: age-dependent effects?
abstract: Word fluency was examined in 73 Swedish children aged 6-9 years divided into two age groups, 6-7 and 8-9 years; 34 deaf children with cochlear implants (CI) (15 girls/19 boys) and 39 age-matched children with normal hearing (NH) (20 girls/19 boys). One purpose was to compare the ability to retrieve words in two different word fluency tasks; one phonemically based (FAS letter fluency) and one semantically based (animal fluency). A second purpose was to examine retrieval strategies in the two tasks by conducting an analysis of clustering and switching of word sequences. In general we found that age was an important factor for word fluency ability, in both the CI and the NH groups. It was also demonstrated that children with CI aged 8-9 years retrieved significantly fewer words and used less efficient strategies in the retrieval process, especially on the phonemically based task compared to children with NH of the same ages, whereas children 6-7 years performed similarly in both groups regarding number of retrieved words and use of strategies. The results are discussed with respect to factors such as age differences in performance for children with CI, especially for the phonemically based task.
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech and Language Pathology, Cochlear Implant Section, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. ulrika.lofkvist@ki.se
authors.forename: Ulrika
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Löfkvist
authors.forename: Ove
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Almkvist
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lyxell
authors.forename: Ing-Mari
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Tallberg
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D019929:Cochlear Implantation; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*