[Comparison of reading skills between cochlear implantation and normal hearing children in second and third grade elementary in Tehran]

Reading skill is necessary for academic achievement, that deaf children have problems in this skill due to hearing impairment. Use of cochlear implant can improve auditory inputs. The aim of this study was to investigate the reading skills of children with cochlear implants and comparing that with normal ones. This descriptive - analytic study was done on 24 children with cochlear implant and 24 normal ones that was selected from second and third grades students of Tehran primary schools. Children's reading performance was assessed by Nama reading test and the data were analyzed using T-test, linear regression and Pearson correlations. The results showed that the means of reading scores of normal children were significantly greater than the cochlear implanted ones [P<0.01]. Also, there was a significant relationship between reading skills and period of cochlear implant [P<0.01]. Cochlear implanted children showed weaker performance in reading skills than normal ones due to less access to auditory and Phonological information. It seems that early surgery and cochlear implant before the age of language learning can be partially compensated reading defects of deaf children

Translation of the test of childhood stuttering into Persian and investigation of validity and reliability of the test

The communicative functioning of children who stutter can be assessed in a variety of ways. Standardized tests are an important tool to assess communication skills particularly in stuttering children .The purpose of the present study was to translate the Test of childhood Stuttering [TOCS] into persian and investigation of validity and reliability of the test. In this research, 40 stutterers and 40 non-stutterer were evaluated. After the translation of the Test according to Protocol 1QOLA and its equalization to Persian Language, Content validity and Face validity of it were determined by the opinions of experts. Then, for concurrent validity determination 80 stutterer and non-stutterer children were examined by TOCS and SSI3 .In order to test reliability, test -retest and Cronbach's alpha were used. Entirely relevant items had simple translation. The translation items had content and face validity correlation between the marks of TOCS and SSI3 [p=0.000, r=%92]. TOCS has high Test-retest [p-0.000, ICC-%97] and internal reliability [p=0.000,a=%90]. Persian equalized TOCS [Test of childhood stuttering] have high validity and reliability, it might be useful to differentiate stuttering children among normal ones