Taxonomic Knowledge of Children With and Without Cochlear Implants

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the taxonomic vocabulary knowledge and organization of children with cochlear implants to (a) children with normal hearing matched for age, and (b) children matched for vocabulary development. METHOD: Ten children with cochlear implants, 10 age-matched children with normal hearing, and 10 vocabulary-matched children with normal hearing participated in this study. The children completed 2 experimental tasks: a forced-choice taxonomic sorting task, and a naming task requiring the children to use labels at multiple taxonomic levels. RESULTS: In the first task, the children in the cochlear implant group sorted pictures with accuracy consistent with the age-matched group. In the second task, the children with cochlear implants demonstrated delayed knowledge of superordinate relations as compared with the age-matched group, similar to the vocabulary-matched group. However, the children with cochlear implants did not demonstrate delayed knowledge of basic or subordinate relations. CONCLUSION: The children with cochlear implants demonstrated a delay in use of superordinate taxonomic labels as compared with the children with normal hearing of the same age, which may lead to later difficulties with academic performance.

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