Executive Functioning Skills in Preschool-Age Children with Cochlear Implants

• Published in: Journal of speech, language, and hearing research language, and hearing research, 2014-08, Vol.57 (4), p.1521-1534
• Main Authors: Beer, Jessica, Kronenberger, William G, Castellanos, Irina, Colson, Bethany G, Henning, Shirley C, Pisoni, David B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Assistive Technology; Attention; Beery Developmental Test Visual Motor Integration; Behavior; Behavior Problems; Case-Control Studies; Child; Child Behavior; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Children, Deaf; Cochlear Implantation; Cochlear implants; Cochlear Implants - adverse effects; Cognition & reasoning; Comparative Analysis; Complications and side effects; Cross-Sectional Studies; Deafness; Deafness - physiopathology; Deafness - surgery; Development and progression; Developmental delay; Executive Function; Executive function (Psychology); Female; Grade 1; Hearing loss; Humans; Inhibition; Inhibition (Psychology); Kindergarten; Language; Language Skills; Leiter International Performance Scale; Literacy; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Mathematics Achievement; Mathematics Skills; Memory; Memory, Short-Term; National Norms; Parents; Physiological aspects; Preschool Children; Preschool Language Scale; Psychological aspects; Risk factors; SAT assessment; Short Term Memory; Speech; Studies; Thinking Skills
• ISSN: 1092-4388; 1558-9102
• DOI: 10.1044/2014_JSLHR-H-13-0054

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether deficits in executive functioning (EF) in children with cochlear implants (CIs) emerge as early as the preschool years. Method: Two groups of children ages 3 to 6 years participated in this cross-sectional study: 24 preschoolers who had CIs prior to 36 months of age and 21 preschoolers with normal hearing (NH). All were tested on normed measures of working memory, inhibition-concentration, and organization-integration. Parents completed a normed rating scale of problem behaviors related to EF. Comparisons of EF skills of children with CIs were made to peers with NH and to published nationally representative norms. Results: Preschoolers with CIs showed significantly poorer performance on inhibition-concentration and working memory compared with peers with NH and with national norms. No group differences were found in visual memory or organization-integration. When data were controlled for language, differences in performance measures of EF remained, whereas differences in parent-reported problems with EF were no longer significant. Hearing history was generally unrelated to EF. Conclusions: This is the first study to demonstrate that EF deficits found in older children with CIs begin to emerge as early as preschool years. The ability to detect these deficits early has important implications for early intervention and habilitation after cochlear implantation.