Ulrika Löfkvist1, Ove Almkvist2, Björn Lyxell3, Ing-Mari Tallberg4. 1. Department of Speech and Language Pathology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; Division of Speech and Language Pathology, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, (CLINTEC), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; HEAD Graduate School, Linnaeus HEAD, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. Electronic address: ulrika.lofkvist@ki.se. 2. Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS), Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. 3. HEAD Graduate School, Linnaeus HEAD, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden; The Swedish Institute for Disability Research, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. 4. Department of Speech and Language Pathology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; Division of Speech and Language Pathology, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, (CLINTEC), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Lexical-semantic ability was investigated among children aged 6-9 years with cochlear implants (CI) and compared to clinical groups of children with language impairment (LI) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as well as to age-matched children with normal hearing (NH). In addition, the influence of age at implantation on lexical-semantic ability was investigated among children with CI. METHODS: 97 children divided into four groups participated, CI (n=34), LI (n=12), ASD (n=12), and NH (n=39). A battery of tests, including picture naming, receptive vocabulary and knowledge of semantic features, was used for assessment. A semantic response analysis of the erroneous responses on the picture-naming test was also performed. RESULTS: The group of children with CI exhibited a naming ability comparable to that of the age-matched children with NH, and they also possessed a relevant semantic knowledge of certain words that they were unable to name correctly. Children with CI had a significantly better understanding of words compared to the children with LI and ASD, but a worse understanding than those with NH. The significant differences between groups remained after controlling for age and non-verbal cognitive ability. CONCLUSIONS: The children with CI demonstrated lexical-semantic abilities comparable to age-matched children with NH, while children with LI and ASD had a more atypical lexical-semantic profile and poorer sizes of expressive and receptive vocabularies. Dissimilar causes of neurodevelopmental processes seemingly affected lexical-semantic abilities in different ways in the clinical groups.
OBJECTIVE: Lexical-semantic ability was investigated among children aged 6-9 years with cochlear implants (CI) and compared to clinical groups of children with language impairment (LI) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as well as to age-matched children with normal hearing (NH). In addition, the influence of age at implantation on lexical-semantic ability was investigated among children with CI. METHODS: 97 children divided into four groups participated, CI (n=34), LI (n=12), ASD (n=12), and NH (n=39). A battery of tests, including picture naming, receptive vocabulary and knowledge of semantic features, was used for assessment. A semantic response analysis of the erroneous responses on the picture-naming test was also performed. RESULTS: The group of children with CI exhibited a naming ability comparable to that of the age-matched children with NH, and they also possessed a relevant semantic knowledge of certain words that they were unable to name correctly. Children with CI had a significantly better understanding of words compared to the children with LI and ASD, but a worse understanding than those with NH. The significant differences between groups remained after controlling for age and non-verbal cognitive ability. CONCLUSIONS: The children with CI demonstrated lexical-semantic abilities comparable to age-matched children with NH, while children with LI and ASD had a more atypical lexical-semantic profile and poorer sizes of expressive and receptive vocabularies. Dissimilar causes of neurodevelopmental processes seemingly affected lexical-semantic abilities in different ways in the clinical groups.
Authors: Petter Kallioinen; Jonas Olofsson; Cecilia Nakeva von Mentzer; Magnus Lindgren; Marianne Ors; Birgitta S Sahlén; Björn Lyxell; Elisabet Engström; Inger Uhlén Journal: Front Psychol Date: 2016-08-10