title: Language skills and nonverbal cognitive processes associated with reading comprehension in deaf children.
abstract: The main aim of this study was to examine the relationship between language skills (vocabulary knowledge and phonological awareness), nonverbal cognitive processes (attention, memory and executive functions) and reading comprehension in deaf children. Participants were thirty prelingually deaf children (10.7 ± 1.6 years old; 18 boys, 12 girls), who were classified as either good readers or poor readers by their scores on two reading comprehension tasks. The children were administered a rhyme judgment task and seven computerized neuropsychological tasks specifically designed and adapted for deaf children to evaluate vocabulary knowledge, attention, memory and executive functions in deaf children. A correlational approach was also used to assess the association between variables. Although the two groups did not show differences in phonological awareness, good readers showed better vocabulary and performed significantly better than poor readers on attention, memory and executive functions measures. Significant correlations were found between better scores in reading comprehension and better scores on tasks of vocabulary and non-verbal cognitive processes. The results suggest that in deaf children, vocabulary knowledge and nonverbal cognitive processes such as selective attention, visuo-spatial memory, abstract reasoning and sequential processing may be especially relevant for the development of reading comprehension.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Almería, Spain. Electronic address: tdaza@ual.es.
authors.forename: María Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Daza
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Phillips-Silver
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Almería, Spain.
authors.forename: María del Mar
authors.initials: Mdel M
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Cuadra
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Almería, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: López-López
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D032882:Comprehension; D003638:Deafness / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D010700:Phonetics; D011932:Reading
keywords: Cognitive processes; Deaf children; Reading comprehension