Efficacy and Effectiveness of Cochlear Implants in Deaf Children

This chapter explores the large individual differences in speech and language outcomes in deaf children who have received cochlear implants (CIs). It argues that that the variability in performance on the traditional clinical outcome measures used to assess speech and language processing skills in deaf children with CIs reflects fundamental differences in the speed of information processing operations such as verbal rehearsal, scanning of items in short-term memory, and the rate of encoding phonological and lexical information in working memory. It is also shown that the sequela of deafness and delay in language are not domain-specific and restricted to only hearing and auditory processing. Other neurocognitive systems display disturbances, and these differences appear to reflect the operation of domain-general processes of cognitive control, self-regulation, and organization.