Visual-motor integration skills of prelingually deaf children: implications for pediatric cochlear implantation.

Objective: To investigate visual-motor integration (VI) skills of prelingually deaf (PLD) children before and after cochlear implantation (CI) and investigate correlations with spoken-language and related processing measures.

Design: Study 1 was a longitudinal study in which VI was tested preimplant. Study 2 was a cross sectional study of school-age children who used a CI for >2 years.

Method: In study 1, a standardized design-copying task was administered preimplant, and spoken-language data were obtained at intervals up to 4 years postimplantation. Analyses were conducted to determine if preimplant VI scores were predictive of various spoken-language measures. In study 2, standardized design copying and speeded maze tracing tasks were administered along with speech perception, vocabulary, and related processing measures.

Results: Whereas preimplant VI scores for children in study 1 fell within the typical range based on age-equivalent norms, postimplant VI standard scores in study 2 were low compared to the normative sample. Postimplant VI scores were inversely related to age at implantation. Preimplant VI scores were robustly predictive of most, but not all, spoken-language outcome scores. Postimplant design copying scores were also correlated with spoken-language and related processing measures whereas maze-tracing scores were less robustly related to these measures.

Conclusions: Early auditory and linguistic experience may impact the development of VI skills. VI is a preimplant predictor of later spoken language outcomes. Design copying and speeded maze tracing tasks appear to tap different sets of cognitive resources in PLD children with CIs.