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Reading and writing performance in cochlear implant users: integrative review

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To describe the reading and writing performance of cochlear implant users, through an integrative review.

Research strategy

The search for studies took place on the platforms: SciELO, PubMed and Virtual Health Library, which includes the databases: MEDLINE and LILACS. The guiding question of this review was: how is the reading and writing performance of cochlear implant users?

Selection criteria

Studies published in the last five years, available in Portuguese and English, which described the reading and writing performance of cochlear implant users. Two authors reviewed and selected data such as: year, type of research, country, sample, objective, age of cochlear implant and conclusions.

Results

Eight articles were included. The age range varied between 5 and 18 years of age. Spain and Iran have published studies in this area more frequently. In total, 419 schoolchildren were evaluated, 238 of whom were cochlear implant users, with a control group of 181 children with normal hearing. Studies demonstrate cochlear implant users have delays during reading and writing development, even more when compared to people with normal hearing.

Conclusion

Even with the use of the cochlear implant, reading and writing performance in schoolchildren is considerably worse compared to individuals with normal hearing. In addition, the reading and writing performance of the participants is below expectations for the age group and school year.

Keywords:
Child; Education; Cochlear implantation; Reading; Hearing loss

RESUMO

Objetivos

Descrever o desempenho de leitura e da escrita em usuários de implante coclear por meio de uma revisão integrativa.

Estratégia de pesquisa

A busca dos estudos ocorreu nas plataformas: SciELO, PubMed e Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde as quais abrangem as bases de dados: MEDLINE e LILACS. A questão norteadora desta revisão foi: como se apresenta o desempenho de leitura e da escrita em usuários de implante coclear?

Critérios de seleção

Estudos publicados nos últimos cinco anos, disponíveis nos idiomas português e inglês, que descreveram o desempenho de leitura e escrita em usuários de implante coclear. Dois autores revisaram e extraíram os dados como: ano, tipo de pesquisa, país, amostra, objetivo, idade de implante coclear e conclusões.

Resultados

Foram inclusos oito artigos. A faixa etária variou entre cinco e 18 anos de idade. Países como Espanha e Irã publicaram com mais frequência estudos nesta área. No total, foram avaliados 419 escolares, sendo que 238 eram usuários de implante coclear, que tinham como grupo controle 181 crianças com audição normal. Estudos demonstram que usuários com implante coclear possuem atrasos significativos durante o processo de desenvolvimento de leitura e de escrita, considerado ainda maior quando comparados com indivíduos de audição normal.

Conclusão

Mesmo com o uso do implante coclear, o desempenho de leitura e de escrita em escolares pode ser considerado pior em comparação ao de indivíduos com audição normal. Além disso, o desempenho de leitura e de escrita dos participantes está aquém do esperado para faixa etária e ano escolar.

Palavras-chave:
Criança; Educação; Implante coclear; Leitura; Perda auditiva

INTRODUCTION

The cochlear implant (CI) is a biomedical device, surgically implanted in the cochlea of patients with profound/severe hearing loss that have not presented satisfactory results with the use of the hearing aid. This device has the purpose of performing the functions of the internal hair cells of the cochlea, electrically stimulating the remaining fibers of the auditive nerve(11 Neves AJ, Verdu ACMA, Mortarimoret AL, Silva LTN. As implicações do implante coclear para desenvolvimento das habilidades de linguagem: uma revisão da literatura. Rev CEFAC. 2015;17(5):1643-56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1982-021620151755315.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1982-021620151...
). The first years of life are fundamental for the execution of the surgery in the CI. In this period happens the height of the maturation process in the central auditive system and the neuronal plasticity of the hearing channel, fundamental step for the development of hearing and language abilities(22 Sobreira ACO, Capo BM, Santos TS, Gil D. Desenvolvimento de fala e linguagem na deficiência auditiva: relato de dois casos. Rev CEFAC. 2015;17(1):308-17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1982-021620152314.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1982-021620152...
).

On the other hand, it is hard to predict how the pre-lingual individuals with CI use in the first three years of life organized the received auditive information and even when they developed language(33 Sharma A, Dorman MF, Kral A. The infuence of a sensitive period on central auditory development in children with unilateral and bilateral cochlear implants. Hear Res. 2005;203(1-2):134-43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2004.12.010. PMid:15855038.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2004....
). This being over the fact the hearing progress depends on many factors, such as pre-implant hearing quality, the cause of hearing loss, length of sensorial privation, the age in which the user received the CI, the type of approach of hearing and language rehabilitation and their organic capacity for neuroplasticity(44 Moretti CAM, Ribas A, Guarinello AC, Rosa MRD. Hearing and language development scale in cochlear implanted children. Audiol Commun Res. 2018;23:e1895.).

Thus, the incomplete hearing input before the CI use can affect the language development of the individual, including the semantic-lexical and syntax/grammatical fields, phonoaudiologic and pragmatic levels. The levels of hearing discrimination and comprehension may also suffer influences, due to the numerous variables that interfere in the benefits of CI use(55 Pooresmaeil E, Mohamadi R, Ghorbani A, Kamali M. The relationship between comprehension of syntax and reading comprehension in cochlear implanted and hearing children. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2019;121:114-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2019.03.004. PMid:30878557.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2019....
).

Since 1957, when was reported the experience of stimulus in the hearing nerve by means of introducing an electrode into the ear of a patient with severe hearing loss(66 Djourno A, Eyries C. Prothèse auditive par excitation électrique a distance du nerf sensoriel a l’ aide d’ un bobinage inclus a demeure. Presse Med. 1957;63(65):14-7.), the number of children that receive the CI increases gradually(77 Tanamati LF, Bevilacqua MC, Costa AO. Cochlear implant in postlingual children: functional results 10 years after the surgery. Rev Bras Otorrinolaringol. 2012;78(2):103-10. PMid:22499377.) and, consequently, the schools have received students who use the CI more often(88 Pinheiro ABSM, Yamada MO, Bevilacqua MC, Crenitte PAP. Assessing skills of school children with cochlear implant. Rev CEFAC. 2012;14(5):826-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-18462012005000059.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-18462012...
). The learning conditions of the school curriculum presented to the students who use the CI have presented poor performance(99 Capovilla FC. Cochlear implant as a tool for the deaf child’s language development. Rev. Bras. Cresc. Des. Hum. 1998;8(1-2):76-84.,1010 Santos SLR. Caracterização de desempenhos envolvidos na leitura e na escrita em crianças com deficiência auditiva [dissertação]. Bauru: Universidade Estadual Paulista; 2012.).

Although the CI technology provides hearing experiences that improve the development of oral language, their users face similar difficulties and challenges, originating from a delay in the acquisition of oral and written language(1111 Brazorotto JS. Crianças usuárias de implante coclear: desempenho acadêmico, expectativa dos pais e professores [tese]. São Carlos: Universidade Federal de São Carlos; 2009.).

Studies report that CI users possess a lower reading and writing performance, when compared to regular hearing individuals(1212 Salesa Batlle E. Avances principales de la audiología actual: previsión de futuro: major advances in current audiology. Rev Logop Fon Audiol. 2012;32(4):149-51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rlfa.2012.10.002.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rlfa.2012.10...
). This difficult can be the result of their sensorial deficit, but also by other factors such as environment, that turns them into children of risk for the gradual acquisition of language development and, consequently, of learning the school curriculum in general(1313 Duarte JL, Brazorotto JS. Analyses of strategies used in a pedagogic therapeutic group to enhance the development of writing in hearing impaired children. Rev Bras Educ Espec. 2009;15(3):471-84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1413-65382009000300010.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1413-65382009...
).

The CI user’s reading and writing performance is often studied in first world countries(1313 Duarte JL, Brazorotto JS. Analyses of strategies used in a pedagogic therapeutic group to enhance the development of writing in hearing impaired children. Rev Bras Educ Espec. 2009;15(3):471-84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1413-65382009000300010.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1413-65382009...
). However, in Brazilian literature, this is still a poorly debated subject, also including the fact that the protocols for reading and writing performance evaluations are systematized for hearing children(1414 Dias N, Seabra AG. Funções executivas: desenvolvimento e intervenção. Temas desenvolv. 2013;19(107):206-12.).

Considering the hypothesis that the reading and writing development of oral CI users may occur in similar fashion to the hearing person with phonetic and auditive hypotheses, the objective of this study was to describe the performance of reading and writing in CI users, by means of an integrative review.

RESEARCH STRATEGY

This study is an integrative review, which selected, gathered, analyzed and discussed findings developed by different methodologies, allowing the reviewers to synthesize them without hurting the epistemological filiation of the empiric studies included(1515 Souza MT, Silva MD, Carvalho R. Integrative review: what is it? How to do it? Einstein. 2010;8(1):102-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/s1679-45082010rw1134. PMid:26761761.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/s1679-45082010...
).

To operate the review, six steps were followed: theme identification and hypothesis selection; study search in databases; study evaluation; data extraction from studies; result analysis and review presentation, considering the main question: How the reading and writing performance presents itself in CI users?

The study search occurred in the main data platforms: Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) the biggest database in Brazil; PubMed and the Virtual Health Library (BVS) that ranges the following databases: Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), the biggest American medical database and Latin-American and Caribbean Literature in Health Science (LILACS), the biggest Latin-American database. The search was conducted during the months of august and september of 2019.

Four describers, in Portuguese and English, controlled by the Describers in Health Science (DeCS) were used: cochlear implant, education, child and reading, associated to the keywords: writing, hearing device and hearing implant, using the Boolean operator “AND” among the describers and “OR” among the keywords, in order to amplify the search.

Ten combinations of search strategy were made utilizing the describers and keywords in Portuguese, as well as in English. The search strategy in English is exemplified next: “Cochlear Implantation” AND Child AND Writing; “Cochlear Implantation” OR “Cochlear Implantations” AND Child AND Writing; “Cochlear Implantation” OR “Implantation Auditory” AND Child AND Education; “Cochlear Implantation” OR “Implantation Auditory” AND Child AND Reading AND “Cochlear Implantation” OR “Implantation Auditory” AND Child AND Writing; “Cochlear Implantation” OR “Implantation Auditory” AND Reading AND “Cochlear Implantation” OR “Implantation Auditory” AND writing; “Cochlear Implantation” OR “Implantation Auditory” OR “Cochlear Implantation” AND Child AND education; “Cochlear Implantation” OR “Implantation Auditory” OR “Cochlear Implantations” AND child AND Reading; “Cochlear Implantation” OR “Implantation Auditory” OR “Cochlear Implantations” AND Reading; “Cochlear Implantation” OR “Implantation Auditory” OR “Cochlear Implantations” AND Writing;

SELECTION CRITERIA

The inclusion criteria established for this review involve published studies in the last six years (2014-2019), available in any language, which described the reading and writing performance of CI using children inserted in a hearing rehabilitation program.

For exclusion criteria, it was established not to include: review articles (systematic, narrative or integrative), case reports, theses, dissertations, opinion articles, essays, studies with the sampling of individuals with comorbidities beyond hearing loss, or repeated by the superposition of databases, or those which didn’t describe the hearing and writing performance of CI users.

The article were selected in sole form by two evaluators that independently read all titles and abstracts of studies obtained by means of pre-defined search strategies. In the cases where there wasn’t agreement about the inclusion of an article, a third evaluator was solicited to arbitrate. Thus, for the final selection of the articles, the selected articles were fully read, as well as a research done about the reading and writing performance of CI users.

Data analysis

After the selection of the articles, the team proceeded in the full reading of these studies. For better presentation of the found data, the following variables were considered: author and year, type of study, publication, impact value, country, sample, objective, age the participants received the CI, school year and conclusions about the hearing and writing performance of the children using the CI. The synthesis of the studies was evaluated in descriptive form and presented in Charts 1 and 2.

RESULTS

The present study presents an initial sample of 990 scientific articles found in the BVS and PubMed databases (Medline) = 947 (95.65%), LILACS = 22 (2.22%) e SciELO = 21 (2.13%). Starting from this main quantitative, the studies that didn’t fit the predetermined criteria of inclusion and exclusion were excluded. Only eight articles were selected and included in the review. The flowchart below (Figure 1) presents a summary of all the search process and research article selection.

Figure 1
Flowchart of the number of articles found and selected after the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria

Chart 1 presents a synthesis of the included articles in this study, considering the following variables: author and year, type of research, publication, impact value, country, sample and objective.

Chart 1
Summary of included studies

From this synthesis, the study can notice that countries of the European continent (Spain) and Asia (Iran) published the bigger incidence of studies in this area of interest. Considering the methodological line, the study could observe in Chart 1, three studies of the transversal type (37.5%)(1616 Wu CM, Ko HC, Chen YA, Tsou YT, Chao WC. Written language ability in mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants. BioMed Res Int. 2015;2015:282164. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/282164. PMid:26236722.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/282164...
,1818 Apel K, Masterson JJ. Comparing the spelling and reading abilities of students with cochlear implants and students with typical hearing. J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ. 2015;20(2):125-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/deafed/env002. PMid:25693579.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/deafed/env002...
,2020 Domínguez AB, Carrilo MS, González VG, Alegria J. How do deaf children with and without cochlear implants manage to read sentences: the key word strategy. J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ. 2016;21(3):280-92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enw026. PMid:27151899.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enw026...
), four transversal-type studies with the control group (50%)(1717 Von Mentzer CN, Lyxell B, Shalén B, Dahlström O, Lindgren M, Ors M, et al. Segmental and suprasegmental properties in nonword repetition? An explorative study of the associations with nonword decoding in children with normal hearing and children with bilateral cochlear implants. Clin Linguist Phon. 2014;29(3):216-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02699206.2014.987926. PMid:25489675.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02699206.2014....
,1919 Gallego C, Martín-Aragoneses MT, López-Higes R, Pisón G. Semantic and syntactic reading comprehension strategies used by deaf children with early and late cochlear implantation. Res Dev Disabil. 2016;49-50:153-70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2015.11.020. PMid:26704778.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2015.11...
,2121 Rezaei M, Rashedi V, Morasae EK. Reading skills in Persian deaf children with cochlear implants and hearing aids. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2016;89:1-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2016.07.010. PMid:27619019.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2016....
,2222 Göçmenler H, Çiprut A. Evaluation of gap filling skills and reading mistakes of cochlear implanted and normally hearing students. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2018;109:27-30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2018.03.014. PMid:29728179.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2018....
) and only one descriptive-analytic and transversal study(55 Pooresmaeil E, Mohamadi R, Ghorbani A, Kamali M. The relationship between comprehension of syntax and reading comprehension in cochlear implanted and hearing children. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2019;121:114-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2019.03.004. PMid:30878557.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2019....
).

During the study, 419 students were evaluated, being 238 (56.80%) CI users, organized as the control group and 181 (43.20%) regular hearing children. Thus, it was verified the 5-18 age range.

Considering the evaluation methods used during the studies, the study must point out that the authors did not follow a pattern. The tests were chosen according to the preference of each author, referring to the reading and writing abilities evaluated.

Chart 2 presents the categorization of studies about the evaluation testes used in the included articles of the review, besides presenting the sample size, the school year attended, the age average in which the participants received the CI and conclusions about each study.

Chart 2
Characterization of studies regarding school years, CI age, assessment tests and study conclusions.

DISCUSSION

The present study was elaborated with objective of describing the reading and writing of CI users by means of an integrative review. Due to the results obtained from this research, it was verified that CI users possess a significant disadvantage during the reading and writing development, being the latter even bigger, when compared to regular hearing individuals. Several are the factors that can influence in this development.

Amidst the selection, no Brazilian study was found published in online platforms relating to this theme, what demonstrates the small production about the theme within the country. Thus, a higher incidence of international publications was observed. The obtained results identify the countries in the European and Asian continents as the countries with the highest incidence of studies related to the reading and writing performance in CI users. Probably, this happens because the CI usage has a bigger history of effectiveness in hearing rehabilitation in these continents.

About the type of study, the methodological line with the biggest amount of results were the transversal studies. Probably because this type of study allows the analysis of collected data in one single period. Therefore, four studies, besides being transversal, used control group (50%)(1717 Von Mentzer CN, Lyxell B, Shalén B, Dahlström O, Lindgren M, Ors M, et al. Segmental and suprasegmental properties in nonword repetition? An explorative study of the associations with nonword decoding in children with normal hearing and children with bilateral cochlear implants. Clin Linguist Phon. 2014;29(3):216-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02699206.2014.987926. PMid:25489675.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02699206.2014....
,1919 Gallego C, Martín-Aragoneses MT, López-Higes R, Pisón G. Semantic and syntactic reading comprehension strategies used by deaf children with early and late cochlear implantation. Res Dev Disabil. 2016;49-50:153-70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2015.11.020. PMid:26704778.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2015.11...
,2121 Rezaei M, Rashedi V, Morasae EK. Reading skills in Persian deaf children with cochlear implants and hearing aids. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2016;89:1-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2016.07.010. PMid:27619019.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2016....
,2222 Göçmenler H, Çiprut A. Evaluation of gap filling skills and reading mistakes of cochlear implanted and normally hearing students. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2018;109:27-30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2018.03.014. PMid:29728179.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2018....
). Within these, the authors needed a pairing between CI users and hearing participants. The evaluation methods used by the authors of the articles studied did not express a pattern, but showed efficacy evaluating and characterizing the reading and writing performances of CI users, considering that these are standard and valid tests in the reading and writing area of these users. None of the selected studies are Brazilian, which difficult the knowledge of clinics and researchers about what tests could be effective for the evaluation of these children in the Brazilian context.

Following this objective, all selected articles for the research affirmed that the reading and writing performance of CI users is considered smaller compared to the hearing population. Others studies, besides this review(88 Pinheiro ABSM, Yamada MO, Bevilacqua MC, Crenitte PAP. Assessing skills of school children with cochlear implant. Rev CEFAC. 2012;14(5):826-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-18462012005000059.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-18462012...
,2323 Spencer LJ, Barker BA, Tomblin JB. Exploring the language and literacy outcomes of pediatric cochlear implant users. Ear Hear. 2003;24(3):236-47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.AUD.0000069231.72244.94. PMid:12799546.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.AUD.0000069...
), corroborate with the results obtained above. They highlight that CI using children possess a significant disadvantage of 2 to 3 years in the reading and writing development, when compared to regular hearing students attending the same school year(88 Pinheiro ABSM, Yamada MO, Bevilacqua MC, Crenitte PAP. Assessing skills of school children with cochlear implant. Rev CEFAC. 2012;14(5):826-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-18462012005000059.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-18462012...
,2323 Spencer LJ, Barker BA, Tomblin JB. Exploring the language and literacy outcomes of pediatric cochlear implant users. Ear Hear. 2003;24(3):236-47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.AUD.0000069231.72244.94. PMid:12799546.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.AUD.0000069...
).

Only two studies(1616 Wu CM, Ko HC, Chen YA, Tsou YT, Chao WC. Written language ability in mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants. BioMed Res Int. 2015;2015:282164. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/282164. PMid:26236722.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/282164...
,1818 Apel K, Masterson JJ. Comparing the spelling and reading abilities of students with cochlear implants and students with typical hearing. J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ. 2015;20(2):125-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/deafed/env002. PMid:25693579.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/deafed/env002...
) presented a specific analysis of the writing of CI-using children. The results showed that, compared to regular hearing children, CI-using children write texts of lesser amount of words, story with no main point and, at describing images and objects, do not mention actions and feelings within the presented characters. Authors suggest that the absence of the capacity of developing and expressing a story can be associated to an unsatisfactory hearing input(1616 Wu CM, Ko HC, Chen YA, Tsou YT, Chao WC. Written language ability in mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants. BioMed Res Int. 2015;2015:282164. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/282164. PMid:26236722.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/282164...
).

Oral CI-wearing children with aurioral approach for hearing rehabilitation must follow the same steps in acquisition of reading and writing in comparison to hearing children(88 Pinheiro ABSM, Yamada MO, Bevilacqua MC, Crenitte PAP. Assessing skills of school children with cochlear implant. Rev CEFAC. 2012;14(5):826-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-18462012005000059.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-18462012...
). Therefore, even if the CI provides hearing sensations to children with severe/profound hearing loss, the acquisition of oral and written language seems to continue disadvantageous, when compared to their normal hearing colleagues(2222 Göçmenler H, Çiprut A. Evaluation of gap filling skills and reading mistakes of cochlear implanted and normally hearing students. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2018;109:27-30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2018.03.014. PMid:29728179.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2018....
). Being necessary a more intensive hearing rehabilitation program in the first years of life, with a bigger objective in the remedy of the delay of the phonoaudiologic conscience in the initial schooling years so they reach better levels of comprehension from the information received and a better dominance of the literacy process. According to the articles studied, the difficulty of reading and writing of CI users can be associated to a deficit in the receptive language of these users, in other words, they need bigger sound experiences to understand what is being communicated orally.

The great difficulty of the CI user is still developing and comprehending the oral language, which severally influences the learning of written language. The Brazilian education, for example, defends the visual support, the storytelling and dramatization of stories as strategies for the teaching of reading and writing among CI-wearing children. Besides a hearing training, the narratives also stimulate the sequential hearing memory, the increase of vocabulary and the language aspects, such as semantics and prosody, fundamental for the development of phonologic consciousness.

This way, it is of great importance that the storytelling is performed through a management program between readers and mediators, which can be initiated since they are babies(2424 Oliveira JP, Bonkill E, Braga TMS 3rd, Schier AC. Produção de conhecimento sobre narrativas orais: contribuições para as investigações em linguagem infantil. Rev CEFAC. 2013;15(1):207-14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-18462012005000108.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-18462012...
,2525 Evans D. Estilos cognitivo-afetivos e construção da linguagem através das narrativas. Constr Psicopedag. 2013;21(22):67-85.). CI-wearing children must also be benefitted by the work of educational phonoaudiology, as well as in the adapted and specialized educational consult to develop abilities of reading and writing(2626 Barbosa RS. Intervenção pedagógica para ensino de leitura, escrita e aritmética para uma criança com implante coclear [tese]. São Carlos: Universidade Federal de São Carlos; 2015.) within the proposal of inclusion in each country.

From the analysis of evaluation tasks that involved the performance of reading and writing in CI and hearing aid users, the study observed a finding of only two articles (25%)(2020 Domínguez AB, Carrilo MS, González VG, Alegria J. How do deaf children with and without cochlear implants manage to read sentences: the key word strategy. J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ. 2016;21(3):280-92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enw026. PMid:27151899.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enw026...
,2121 Rezaei M, Rashedi V, Morasae EK. Reading skills in Persian deaf children with cochlear implants and hearing aids. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2016;89:1-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2016.07.010. PMid:27619019.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2016....
). A Spanish study showed that the reading levels between the groups did not present differences, because both groups possess difficulty dealing with more complex words, especially, when it is demanded associations between them(2020 Domínguez AB, Carrilo MS, González VG, Alegria J. How do deaf children with and without cochlear implants manage to read sentences: the key word strategy. J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ. 2016;21(3):280-92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enw026. PMid:27151899.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enw026...
).

On the other hand, Israeli scholars affirm that the use of CI is not significantly more efficient compared to the use of the hearing aid to improve reading abilities(2121 Rezaei M, Rashedi V, Morasae EK. Reading skills in Persian deaf children with cochlear implants and hearing aids. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2016;89:1-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2016.07.010. PMid:27619019.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2016....
). Perhaps because there are other variables, such as the inclusion process and the sociocultural status of the country, need to be taken into consideration and not only the type of electronic hearing device utilized. With this, the study can affirm that countries with more complex style of sentencing will be able to influence directly the comprehension and elaboration of narratives of these CI-wearing children. The users, when exposed to this style of more complex sentences, possess more elaborate experiences, in relation to the context in which they are included.

However, a study confronts the result of researches quoted previously, affirming that the comprehension of reading among CI-wearing children is significantly better than the children who wear hearing aid(2727 Marschark M, Rhoten C, Fabich M. Effects of cochlear implants on children’s reading and academic achievement. J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ. 2007;12(3):269-82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enm013. PMid:17526867.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enm013...
). The findings within the aspects of hearing perception are unquestionable whether better benefit provided by the CI in comparison to the hearing aid for users with severe/profound pre-lingual hearing loss. However, such performance, from both groups, still finds itself behind when compared to the regular hearing children. Again, it is important to consider other necessary details in the fundaments of these findings, such as the strategies used by these groups for the identification of content within a text.

The difficulty of comprehension of reading among these individuals can be associated with a deficit in the syntax processing of sentences, in other words, the individuals with severe/profound hearing loss do not receive the grammar rules in their entirety, which determine the correct structure of a sentence. Possibly making writing, altogether incoherent in consideration to the main idea of the text. Defending this assumption, according to studies, individuals with hearing loss execute semantic strategies that involve the comprehension of sentences(2828 Domínguez AB, Pérez I, Alegria J. Reading in deaf students: the role of the cochlear implant. Infanc Aprendiz. 2012;35(3):327-41.). This strategy seeks to identify the content of the sentence, selecting target-words as closure of ideas, ignoring any other information presented.

About the evaluation of relations which involved the development of hearing and writing abilities, considering the “implementing age” and the “total time of CI use” variables, it was possible to observe only three articles (37.5%)(55 Pooresmaeil E, Mohamadi R, Ghorbani A, Kamali M. The relationship between comprehension of syntax and reading comprehension in cochlear implanted and hearing children. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2019;121:114-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2019.03.004. PMid:30878557.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2019....
,1919 Gallego C, Martín-Aragoneses MT, López-Higes R, Pisón G. Semantic and syntactic reading comprehension strategies used by deaf children with early and late cochlear implantation. Res Dev Disabil. 2016;49-50:153-70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2015.11.020. PMid:26704778.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2015.11...
,2222 Göçmenler H, Çiprut A. Evaluation of gap filling skills and reading mistakes of cochlear implanted and normally hearing students. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2018;109:27-30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2018.03.014. PMid:29728179.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2018....
). Such results demonstrate that the individuals implanted early and/or late possess significant differences concerning the reading and writing performance in comparison to those possessing regular hearing(55 Pooresmaeil E, Mohamadi R, Ghorbani A, Kamali M. The relationship between comprehension of syntax and reading comprehension in cochlear implanted and hearing children. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2019;121:114-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2019.03.004. PMid:30878557.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2019....
,1919 Gallego C, Martín-Aragoneses MT, López-Higes R, Pisón G. Semantic and syntactic reading comprehension strategies used by deaf children with early and late cochlear implantation. Res Dev Disabil. 2016;49-50:153-70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2015.11.020. PMid:26704778.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2015.11...
,2222 Göçmenler H, Çiprut A. Evaluation of gap filling skills and reading mistakes of cochlear implanted and normally hearing students. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2018;109:27-30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2018.03.014. PMid:29728179.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2018....
).

Early implanted children preferably use syntax clues when trying to comprehend and complete read sentences, meaning that, in the absence of an adequate understanding, these children seek words that insert themselves morphosyntatically in the sentence, which is similar to the abilities of children who possess regular hearing(1919 Gallego C, Martín-Aragoneses MT, López-Higes R, Pisón G. Semantic and syntactic reading comprehension strategies used by deaf children with early and late cochlear implantation. Res Dev Disabil. 2016;49-50:153-70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2015.11.020. PMid:26704778.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2015.11...
). For late implanted children, semantic clues are used for this comprehension, according to the use of the keyword strategy. However, in some moments, these children employ syntactic signals, using both strategies(1919 Gallego C, Martín-Aragoneses MT, López-Higes R, Pisón G. Semantic and syntactic reading comprehension strategies used by deaf children with early and late cochlear implantation. Res Dev Disabil. 2016;49-50:153-70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2015.11.020. PMid:26704778.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2015.11...
).

The only transversal, descriptive, analytic study included in this review affirms that even if the comprehension strategy of early implanted children is similar to the hearing children, there can be a difference in the reading performance between the groups(2222 Göçmenler H, Çiprut A. Evaluation of gap filling skills and reading mistakes of cochlear implanted and normally hearing students. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2018;109:27-30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2018.03.014. PMid:29728179.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2018....
). This way, researches show that children with profound hearing loss which receive the CI in an early age have a significant better performance in comparison to those who receive the implant in a later age(2929 Nicholas JG, Geers AE. Effects of early auditory experience on the spoken language of deaf children at 3 years of age. Ear Hear. 2006;27(3):286-98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.aud.0000215973.76912.c6. PMid:16672797.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.aud.0000215...
,3030 Holt RF, Svirsky MA. An exploratory look at pediatric cochlear implantation: is earliest always best? Ear Hear. 2008;29(4):492-511. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/AUD.0b013e31816c409f. PMid:18382374.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/AUD.0b013e3181...
).

Despite the hearing benefits that the CI can offer to a child with hearing loss, the capacity of organizing a written story or expressing it by means of reading will be able of improvement with the increase of sound experiences from these users. This way, the more exposed to hearing input the child is, the better will be their capacity of coding and decoding the words. In other words, the importance of rehabilitation programs after the CI is verified, along with an adequate educational consultation for the CI users in their scholar environment.

CONCLUSION

This literature review indicated that, even with the use of CI, the reading and writing performance is behind the expected for the age range and school year. Besides that, CI users presented an inferior performance compared to the hearing population when compared. This deficit can be associated to the receptive language of these users, in other words, they need greater sound experiences to comprehend what they are listening, so that, starting from this, they can improve their coding abilities (reading) and decoding (writing).

Besides this, implements within the inclusion process can favor the best results in the school performance of CI users, as a reading management suggested by researchers. From the analyzed studies, the study identifies the lack of researches about the reading and writing performance of CI users in Brazil, making necessary, therefore, more studies and publications referring to this theme.

  • Study carried out at Universidade Estadual de Ciências da Saúde de Alagoas – UNCISAL – Maceió (AL), Brasil.
  • Funding:

    None.

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Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    17 Aug 2020
  • Date of issue
    2020

History

  • Received
    30 Jan 2020
  • Accepted
    19 May 2020
Academia Brasileira de Audiologia Rua Itapeva, 202, conjunto 61, CEP 01332-000, Tel.: (11) 3253-8711, Fax: (11) 3253-8473 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: revista@audiologiabrasil.org.br