Exploring the language and literacy outcomes of pediatric cochlear implant users

Objective: The principal goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between language and literacy (i.e., reading and writing) skills in pediatric cochlear implant users. A peripheral objective was to identify the children’s skills that were in need of remediation and subsequently to provide sugges-tions for remedial programming. It was predicted that the robust language skills often associated with children who have cochlear implant experi-ence would facilitate the development of literacy skills. It was further proposed that the language and literacy skills of pediatric cochlear implant users would approximate the language and literacy skills of children with normal hearing. Design: Sixteen pediatric cochlear implant users’ language and literacy skills were evaluated and then compared with a reference group of 16 age-matched, normal-hearing children. All 32 partici-pants were educated in mainstream classes withi