Classroom performance and language development of CI students placed in mainstream elementary school.

Objective: Investigation of the relation between classroom performance and language development of cochlear implant (CI) students in mainstream education. Structural analyses of assessment of mainstream performance (AMP) and Screening Instrument For Targeting Educational Risk (SIFTER) instruments.

Study Design: Cross-sectional instrument and language development analyses.

Setting: Tertiary university medical center.

Patients: Twenty-six CI children in elementary school with congenital or prelingual deafness were included. At the time of this study, mean period of multichannel CI use was 5.3 years, and children's ages ranged from 6.5 to 12.8 years.

Main Outcome Measure: Assessment of mainstream performance and SIFTER instruments measured classroom performance and language development were measured by means of Reynell and Schlichting tests.

Results: Assessment of mainstream performance and SIFTER domains showed good reliability (Cronbach alpha >0.6), but factor analyses only showed the expected instrument structure in the AMP. In both questionnaires and within all domains, individual variability is detected. Spearman's correlation analyses showed the probable explanation of individual questionnaire variability by language test results (p value mostly <0.01). The AMP and SIFTER instruments showed a predictive capacity for language development, based upon general linear model univariate and linear regression analyses.

Conclusion: Individual classroom performance, measured by AMP and SIFTER questionnaires, of CI children in mainstream education varies. Correlation analyses showed strong significant relation between questionnaire results (classroom performance) and both expressive and receptive language test results (Schlichting and Reynell tests). Structural questionnaire analyses of the AMP and SIFTER demonstrated good reliability. The predictive value of the AMP can monitor the actual linguistic functioning of the child.