Abstract:
Hearing loss presents challenges to the communication development of children who need language input in order to develop speech and language. However, research into the speech and language skills of children with hearing loss have varied considerably in the past as to the depth and detail of the analysis that has been carried out. Studies have mainly used norm-referenced tests and have been much less likely to involve more naturalistic language sample analyses. These results, although undoubtedly useful, may benefit from the addition of some in-depth analysis. This thesis presents the results of a detailed analysis of some of the speech and language skills and some relevant contextual features (e.g. those of background, family and history) found in a cohort of 11 preschool children with hearing loss aged between 3 and 5 years of age from Auckland, New Zealand. An equal number of typically hearing children matched in age, gender, socioeconomic status and ethnicity were also assessed. The older children with hearing loss were re-assessed a year later to see what changes had occurred over a year. The most obvious finding was the variability among children’s results. Three groups were found, those performing within the normal range, those performing below the normal range, and some whose performance was borderline or fluctuated in the first assessment, but who were found to have joined the upper performing group a year later. There were significant differences between the mean group scores of the children with hearing loss (especially older children) and their matched controls on most of the standardised speech and language measures. The detailed analyses indicated more issues in expressive morphosyntax than other speech or language features. However another main finding was how much language measures, including syntax, was affected by the chosen task and the genre of interaction. The value of understanding more about the contextual features of the children was also very clear. Age of diagnosis, use of hearing aids and family beliefs featured as issues of probable significance to the groupings found within the children. The discussion considers how in-depth analysis of speech and language skills in children with hearing loss, in this case using LARSP and Speech Act Analysis, might be of benefit in the assessment regimes for these children. Recommendations are made for further research on a range of issues raised by the results of this study.