Klieve, S., Eadie, P., Graham, L., Leitao, S. (2023). Complex language use in children with hearing loss: A scoping review. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 66, 688-719. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00270
In a review of the research spanning the years since 1990, Klieve and colleagues aimed to determine what is known about the use of complex language, specifically complex syntax (the ability to form complex sentences), by children with hearing loss. The authors sought to determine if there is a profile (a typical distribution of strengths and weaknesses) of complex language use for these children, which could help guide more effective intervention practices.
Despite technological advances, many children with hearing loss still face significant difficulties with language in comparison to their hearing peers. Complex syntax supports literacy activities (such as oral and written expression and reading comprehension) and overall academic achievement. Much of the available research on complex language use in children with hearing loss focuses on the early elementary school years, even though complex syntax continues to develop past this stage. An important shift takes place around the age of 8 or 9 when students move from learning to read, to reading to learn. This shift aligns with an increase in the use of complex language and results in a widened gap between the skills of children with hearing loss and their hearing peers.
This review looked at research with a focus on complex syntax use at the sentence or discourse level (language made up of more than single words) by children (ages 4-18) with a moderate or greater hearing loss who use spoken language as their main method of communication.
The authors’ findings revealed the following characteristics of the complex language of children with hearing loss: use of more simple sentences, simple clauses and connectors, and use of fewer conjunctions and fewer complex conjunctions. Children with hearing loss used a comparable number of units of content in sentences but with fewer grammatically correct units.
Overall, the authors found that children with hearing loss experience difficulties across many aspects of complex syntax, and that difficulty with earlier developing complex syntax resulted in difficulty with later syntax development. This information can be used to develop an effective intervention approach for children with hearing loss that addresses a broad range of complex syntax, with the aim of supporting not only the development of complex language use in children with hearing loss, but ultimately supporting their overall academic success. More research into this area is needed in order to determine effective approaches to intervention for these children.
