Impact of reading and writing skills on academic achievement among school-aged hearing-impaired children.

Objectives: Reading and writing skills are important for hearing-impaired children since these skills help them to develop their language skills, but the prevalence of reading/writing difficulties and its effects on language development aspects among them are unclear. In this study, we identified language development features and demographic factors of Japanese hearing-impaired children diagnosed as having reading/writing difficulties.

Methods: We analyzed data from a total of 546 sever-to-profound pre-school and elementary school hearing-impaired children for this study.

Theory of mind and language development in Japanese children with hearing loss.

Objective: This study investigates the development of theory of mind (ToM) in Japanese children with hearing loss (HL) and its relationship with language abilities using the data of a large sample size.

Methods: Participants were 369 children with HL, ranging from 4 to 12 years of age. The mean hearing level of the better ear was 100.

Impact of early intervention on comprehensive language and academic achievement in Japanese hearing-impaired children with cochlear implants.

Objectives: Early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) is critical for achievement of age-appropriate speech perception and language development in hearing-impaired children. It has been 15 years since newborn hearing screening (NHS) was introduced in Japan, and its effectiveness for language development in hearing-impaired children has been extensively studied. Moreover, after over 20 years of cochlear implantation in Japan, many of the prelingual cochlear implant (CI) users have reached school age, and the effect of CI on language development have also been assessed.

Language development, interpersonal communication, and academic achievement among Japanese children as assessed by the ALADJIN.

Objectives: Japanese-speaking children in a standard sample were subjected to a test battery (ALADJIN: Assessment Package for Language Development in Japanese Hearing-Impaired Children) to evaluate the effect of language development on both interpersonal communication skills and academic achievement.

Methods: A total of 414 preschool and school-age children without hearing impairment were included in this study. The following tests make up the ALADJIN: the Test of Question-Answer Interaction Development (TQAID), the Japanese Language by Criterion Referenced Test-II (CRT-II) for measuring academic achievement, the Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PVT-R), the Standardized Comprehension Test of Abstract Words (SCTAW), both parts of the Syntactic Processing Test for Aphasia (STA), and the Word Fluency Test (WFT).

Syntactic development in Japanese hearing-impaired children.

Objectives: This study examined syntactic development of auditory comprehension of sentences in Japanese-speaking school-age children with and without hearing impairment.

Methods: In total, 592 preschool and school-age children (421 normal-hearing and 171 hearing-impaired) were included in this cross-sectional observation study conducted using the Syntactic Processing Test for Aphasia for Japanese language users. Linear regression analysis was used to determine the estimated age at which each syntactic structure was acquired.

Language ability in the intermediate-scoring group of hearing-impaired children.

Objectives: Language development is a key issue in hearing-impaired children. However, interpersonal differences complicate our understanding of the situation. The bimodal or trimodal distribution of language scores in our other reports in this publication imply the presence of fundamental differences among these groups.

Assessment package for language development in Japanese hearing-impaired children (ALADJIN) as a test battery for the development of practical communication.

Objectives: The measurement of language development in hearing-impaired children is an important step in assessing the appropriateness of an intervention. We proposed a set of language tests (the Assessment Package for Language Development in Japanese Hearing-Impaired Children [ALADJIN]) to evaluate the development of practical communication skills. This package consisted of communication skills (TQAID), comprehensive (PVT-R and SCTAW) and productive vocabulary (WFT), comprehensive and productive syntax (STA), and the STRAW.