Manifestation of speech and language disorders in children with hearing impairment compared with children with specific language disorders.

Children with hearing impairment (HI) often suffer from speech and language disorders. We wondered if the manifestation of these disorders resembled the ones in children with specific language impairment (SLI). Using matched pairs, we compared the manifestation of a speech and language disorder in 5- and 6-year-old children with HI and SLI. We looked at receptive language skills using the Reynell scales, the lexicon, syntax and morphology, output phonology, and phonological short-term memory. Receptive language skills were more impaired in HI children. No significant differences were recorded for all other domains. We conclude that language deficits that are at least partially caused by the hearing impairment affect receptive language skills to a greater extent than expressive language skills.