The Effect of Age at Cochlear Implant Initial Stimulation on Expressive Language Growth in Infants and Toddlers

TLDR

The study examined expressive language growth in children who received cochlear implants in infancy. The authors collected repeated language measures from 29 children implanted between 10 and 40 months and used cross‑sectional and growth‑curve analyses to relate expressive language outcomes to CI experience. Earlier implantation led to faster expressive language growth, with infants showing more rapid gains and age at initial stimulation explaining 14.6 % of the variance in growth rates.

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.