Language development after pediatric brainstem implantation.

This project aims to examine the oral language development of congenital deaf children with auditory brainstem implants. Thus far, only a handful of studies examined the oral language skills of children and adolescents with ABI, without going into linguistic detail. In this project, the development of their speech production will be investigated into linguistic detail and compared to that of children with typical hearing and another group of congenital deaf children, viz. children with cochlear implants. The outcomes of this project will be crucial on different levels. First, they are theoretically important to further our understanding about the role of auditory input and brain stimulation for language development. Second, results can guide speech and language therapy for these children with auditory brainstem implants, since the current therapy is entirely based on that for children with cochlear implants, without any linguistic comparisons between both groups of children. Finally, the resulting information is crucial, for e.g. parents, to determine whether the benefit of ABI implantation outweighs the surgical risk.

Keywords:CHILD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION, LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT, AUDITORY BRAINSTEM IMPLANTATION, HEARING LOSS

Disciplines:Language acquisition