The Elizabeth Foundation is supporting two new research studies. Both aim to find out more about how deafness affects early language development in preschool children.
The Deafness, Early Implantation and Language (DEL) Study
For the first study, we are collaborating with Prof Laurence Vincent-Durroux, an expert in English Linguistics from the University of Grenoble. This study focuses on deafness, early implantation and language (DEL). The aim of her research programme is to look at the early stages of oral French and English language development in profoundly deaf children who have had cochlear implants since they were about 12 months old.
The research will check whether parameters can be found in the early stages of language development which could account for further difficulties and delay, as evidenced by research on the oral language of teenagers and young adults with early cochlear implantation. The research looks at spontaneous language children use during play in order to consider all aspects of language together, since successful communication results from their combination.
Preschool Language and Literacy Skills Investigation
The second research study is led by Dr Fiona Kyle and Prof Ros Herman from the Division of Language and Communication Science at City, University of London. Their study investigates preschool language and literacy skills in deaf and hearing children. The Elizabeth Foundation will be the charity partner for this research. This study is important because many deaf children find learning to read challenging.
The overall aim of the longitudinal study is to determine whether deaf and hearing children who are at risk of later literacy difficulties can be identified from their preschool language, phonological and emerging literacy skills. Early identification of children who are likely to have literacy difficulties will help ensure that they have appropriate support as they begin to learn to read.
Future updates
We will look forward to keeping everyone updated as both of these of these studies progress.
