Susan Nittrouer

Supported by grant R01 DC006327 National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

The Ohio State University

Early Intervention

The McCowen School for Young Deaf Children (1883)

Means of Demographic Variables

NH CI

SES (64-point scale) 35.0 (13.3) 33.4 (11.2)

Age ID (months) 6.7 (7.2)

Age 1st CI (months) 21.4 (16.2)*

* 50% had 1st CI before 15 months; 70% before 18 months

Cohen’s d = .78

2nd grade

Cohen’s d = 1.00

Cohen’s d = .88 Cohen’s d = .88

Cohen’s d = .65 Cohen’s d = .56

Cohen’s d = 1.54 Cohen’s d = 1.20 Cohen’s d = .87

Factor Analysis Initial Consonant Choice

Final Consonant Choice

Phoneme Deletion

Expressive Vocabulary

Auditory Comprehension

Reading Comprehension

Word Reading

Reading Fluency

Working Memory

Number Different Words

Mean Length Utterance

Number Conjunctions

Number Pronouns

2nd Grade

Factor Analysis Phonological Morphosyntactic Lexical

Initial Consonant Choice .737 .097 .438

Final Consonant Choice .755 .182 .203

Phoneme Deletion .742 .102 .411

Expressive Vocabulary .409 .086 .772 Auditory Comprehension .257 .253 .800 Reading Comprehension .305 .294 .800 Word Reading .673 .065 .394

Reading Fluency .376 .144 .737 Working Memory .729 .103 .121

Number Different Words .047 .841 .334

Mean Length Utterance .087 .798 .305

Number Conjunctions .119 .910 .005

Number Pronouns .180 .776 .063

Mean Latent Scores at 2nd Grade

Acquisition After Starting School

Child Phonologists Agree

…the segment emerges as an independently controlled element only in later childhood, well after the preschool years.

(page 2)      

The word or syllable is the first unit of linguistic organization for the child.

The young girl chased the happy puppy. The young girl pushed the old man.

The young girl who pushed the old man chased the happy puppy.

Designing School- Age Intervention

Amount of Intervention

•  Collectively advocate for more and more appropriate services for children with CIs after they start school.

•  Collectively advocate for more services for children with CIs after they start school.

•  Better training for personnel.

•  Intervention should focus on developing sensitivity to phonological structure.

•  Grammatical skills need to be strengthened, even when considered acceptable for children with NH.

•  Collectively advocate for more and more appropriate services for children with CIs after they start school.

•  Better training for personnel.

•  Intervention should focus on developing sensitivity to phonological structure, with care.

•  Grammatical skills need to be strengthened, even when considered acceptable for children with NH.

The Summary