Parental Linguistic Inputs to Toddlers with Cochlear Implants during Parent-Toddler Interaction

Abstract

Objectives: Parental linguistic input is one of the most important factors in the early language environment of young children. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of parental linguistic input in toddlers with cochlear implants (CIs), aged 12-36 months, compared to those with typical hearing (TH); and to explore the relationships between parental linguistic input variables and the language development of toddlers in each group. Methods: Parental linguistic input to 14 toddlers with CIs and 18 toddlers with TH was examined during a 20 minute free-play activities. This study compared the amounts of parental linguistic input and the proportion of facilitative language techniques (FLTs) between the CI and TH groups. Results: Parents of toddlers with CIs used more utterances and shorter mean length of utterance than parents of toddlers with TH. However, toddlers with CIs were exposed to a similar number of different words compared to toddlers with TH. Parents of toddlers with CIs used less FLTs than parents of toddlers with TH. In the TH group, high and low-level FLTs were significantly correlated with language skills of toddlers. However, there was no significantly relationship between parental linguistic input variables and toddlers’ language skills in the CI group. Conclusion: These results suggested that toddlers with CIs were exposed to a different quantity and quality of parental linguistic input compared to toddlers with TH. These findings can be used to develop the parent education program in the early intervention for toddlers with CIs.