The effect of retrieval practice on vocabulary learning for DHH children.

On average, deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children have difficulty developing expressive spoken vocabulary comparable to hearing peers. Yet, there are no evidence-based practices to guide classroom instruction for teachers of the deaf. Retrieval practice-a robust learning strategy-has been shown to improve children's retention of vocabulary, but it has not been investigated with DHH children who use listening and spoken language. The present study examined whether DHH children benefit from using retrieval practice to learn new vocabulary. Sixteen DHH children (in the age range of 5.0-8.11 years) were taught a set of new vocabulary words using retrieval practice or repeated exposure. A recall test was administered two days later. Results showed that DHH children were twice as likely to recall a word taught through retrieval practice than exposure (OR = 2.01, p = .02). Presence of an additional diagnosis and number of practice trials were also significant predicting factors of vocabulary learning.

Teenagers and Young Adults Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: a Snapshot of Acculturation in High School and Post-Secondary Life.

OBJECTIVES: The current study investigates acculturation in a group of teenagers and young adults who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) and who were raised in an age of early identification, early intervention, advanced audiologic technology, and inclusive education. DESIGN: The Deaf Acculturation Scale ( Maxwell-McCaw & Zea 2011 ) was administered via online survey to 106 teenagers and young adults (mean ages = 16.87 and 24.65 years, respectively). All participants were alumni of an early childhood program for children who are DHH in the United States learning listening and spoken language skills. RESULTS: The majority of the participants scored as hearing acculturated (79%), with 1% scoring as deaf acculturated, and 20% as bicultural. Teenagers and adults did not differ significantly on acculturation. Participants who identified as hearing acculturated were less likely to use sign language with their friends, at work, or with their families than those who identified as bicultural. CONCLUSIONS: These results are in contrast to acculturation patterns reported in other populations of young DHH adults, indicating the need to continue investigating the diversity in cultural values, beliefs, and practices of people who are DHH.

Effects of Segmental and Suprasegmental Speech Perception on Reading in Pediatric Cochlear Implant Recipients.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine whether suprasegmental speech perception contributes unique variance in predictions of reading decoding and comprehension for prelingually deaf children using two devices, at least one of which is a cochlear implant (CI). METHOD: A total of 104, 5- to 9-year-old CI recipients completed tests of segmental perception (e.g., word recognition in quiet and noise, recognition of vowels and consonants in quiet), suprasegmental perception (e.g., talker and stress discrimination, nonword stress repetition, and emotion identification), and nonverbal intelligence. Two years later, participants completed standardized tests of reading decoding and comprehension. Using regression analyses, the unique contribution of suprasegmental perception to reading skills was determined after controlling for demographic characteristics and segmental perception performance. RESULTS: Standardized reading scores of the CI recipients increased with nonverbal intelligence for both decoding and comprehension. Female gender was associated with higher comprehension scores. After controlling for gender and nonverbal intelligence, segmental perception accounted for approximately 4% and 2% of the variance in decoding and comprehension, respectively. After controlling for nonverbal intelligence, gender, and segmental perception, suprasegmental perception accounted for an extra 4% and 7% unique variance in reading decoding and reading comprehension, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Suprasegmental perception operates independently from segmental perception to facilitate good reading outcomes for these children with CIs. Clinicians and educators should be mindful that early perceptual skills may have long-term benefits for literacy. Research on how to optimize suprasegmental perception, perhaps through hearing-device programming and/or training strategies, is needed.

Effects of Early Intervention Frequency on Expressive Vocabulary Growth Rates of Very Young Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: How Much Is Enough?

PURPOSE: The aims of this study were to explore expressive vocabulary growth rates of children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) during critical periods of brain development (birth to 3 years) as well as the factors that influence the trajectories of vocabulary growth in these early years of development. Of primary interest was the effect of intervention frequency on expressive vocabulary growth. METHOD: Hierarchical linear modeling was used to investigate trajectories of expressive vocabulary growth using multiple measures of longitudinal vocabulary scores. A total of 417 assessments across 105 participants were analyzed to determine the average rate of lexical growth in a young population of children who are DHH receiving early intervention before age 3 years. Expected growth trajectories were constructed based on varying frequencies of intervention during critical periods of brain development. RESULTS: Results indicated average growth rates of 5.21 new words expressed per week. Increased intervention hours prior to age 3 years was significantly associated with higher degrees of expressive vocabulary growth. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest that greater intervention hours received before age 3 years are associated with higher degrees of expressive vocabulary growth for children who are DHH.

Teaching Children With Hearing Loss to Recognize Speech: Gains Made With Computer-Based Auditory and/or Speechreading Training.

OBJECTIVES: Transfer appropriate processing (TAP) refers to a general finding that training gains are maximized when training and testing are conducted under the same conditions. The present study tested the extent to which TAP applies to speech perception training in children with hearing loss. Specifically, we assessed the benefits of computer-based speech perception training games for enhancing children's speech recognition by comparing three training groups: auditory training (AT), audiovisual training (AVT), and a combination of these two (AT/AVT). We also determined whether talker-specific training, as might occur when children train with the speech of a next year's classroom teacher, leads to better recognition of that talker's speech and if so, the extent to which training benefits generalize to untrained talkers. Consistent with TAP theory, we predicted that children would improve their ability to recognize the speech of the trained talker more than that of three untrained talkers and, depending on their training group, would improve more on an auditory-only (listening) or audiovisual (speechreading) speech perception assessment, that matched the type of training they received. We also hypothesized that benefit would generalize to untrained talkers and to test modalities in which they did not train, albeit to a lesser extent. DESIGN: Ninety-nine elementary school aged children with hearing loss were enrolled into a randomized control trial with a repeated measures A-A-B experimental mixed design in which children served as their own control for the assessment of overall benefit of a particular training type and three different groups of children yielded data for comparing the three types of training. We also assessed talker-specific learning and transfer of learning by including speech perception tests with stimuli spoken by the talker with whom a child trained and stimuli spoken by three talkers with whom the child did not train and by including speech perception tests that presented both auditory (listening) and audiovisual (speechreading) stimuli. Children received 16 hr of gamified training. The games provided word identification and connected speech comprehension training activities. RESULTS: Overall, children showed significant improvement in both their listening and speechreading performance. Consistent with TAP theory, children improved more on their trained talker than on the untrained talkers. Also consistent with TAP theory, the children who received AT improved more on the listening than the speechreading. However, children who received AVT improved on both types of assessment equally, which is not consistent with our predictions derived from a TAP perspective. Age, language level, and phonological awareness were either not predictive of training benefits or only negligibly so. CONCLUSIONS: The findings provide support for the practice of providing children who have hearing loss with structured speech perception training and suggest that future aural rehabilitation programs might include teacher-specific speech perception training to prepare children for an upcoming school year, especially since training will generalize to other talkers. The results also suggest that benefits of speech perception training were not significantly related to age, language level, or degree of phonological awareness. The findings are largely consistent with TAP theory, suggesting that the more aligned a training task is with the desired outcome, the more likely benefit will accrue.

Vocabulary Acquisition as a By-Product of Meaning-Oriented Auditory Training for Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

Purpose A meaning-oriented auditory training program for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (d/hh) was assessed with regard to its efficacy in promoting novel word learning. Method While administering the auditory training program, one of the authors (Elizabeth Mauzé) observed that children were learning words they previously did not know. Therefore, we systematically assessed vocabulary gains among 16 children. Most completed pretest, posttest, and retention versions of a picture-naming task in which they attempted to verbally identify 199 color pictures of words that would appear during training. Posttest and retention versions included both pictures used and not used during training in order to test generalization of associations between words and their referents. Importantly, each training session involved meaning-oriented, albeit simple, activities/games on a computer. Results At posttest, the percentage of word gain was 27.3% (SD = 12.5; confidence interval [CI] of the mean: 24.2-30.4) using trained pictures as cues and 25.9% (CI of the mean: 22.9-29.0) using untrained pictures as cues. An analysis of retention scores (for 13 of the participants who completed it weeks later) indicated strikingly high levels of retention for the words that had been learned. Conclusions These findings favor auditory training that is meaning oriented when it comes to the acquisition of different linguistic subsystems, lexis in this case. We also expand the discussion to include other evidence-based recommendations regarding how vocabulary is presented (input-based effects) and what learners are asked to do (task-based effects) as part of an overall effort to help children who are d/hh increase their vocabulary knowledge.