Poster #160 - Examining EF in Preschoolers with Cochlear Implants

• In Event: 3-053 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Section - Perceptual, Sensory, Motor

Integrative Statement

The use of cochlear implants (CIs) has become the standard of care for deaf children without auditory nerve damage. In 2000, The FDA approved the use of CIs beginning at 12 months of age, meaning that more children are receiving CIs earlier in life. A robust literature has demonstrated that the use of CIs is associated with improvement in language skills (McDonald-Connor, et al., 2006), but less is known about their influence on executive function (EF). In general, deaf children show consistent deficits in EF (Beer, Kronenberger, & Pisoni, 2011; Botting et al., 2017; Kronenberger et al., 2014). However, the vast majority of this research has been conducted with school-age children (with both CIs and hearing aid users). More research with preschoolers is needed, given the younger ages at which children receive CIs, as well as the growth and differentiation of EF abilities over this period (Hughes & Ensor, 2011). The solitary study examining preschool-age EF had mixed finding, with deficits in sustained attention but not working memory (Beer et al., 2014). Thus, it remains unclear if unique factors contribute to EF performance for these children. One component of EF that may be important to examine in this population is simple reaction time (SRT). Research with hearing children suggests that SRT significantly contributes to children’s performance on EF tasks (Hendry, Jones, & Charman, 2016). Children with CIs have an increased risk for slower SRT as illustrated by studies that have documented slower processing speeds (Botting et al., 2017) and longer times for related skills such as retrieval speed, subvocal verbal rehearsal, and serial scanning (Burkholder & Pisoni, 2003; Burkholder & Pisoni, 2004). The current study examined performance on an EF battery for preschool-age children with CIs and tested if several factors including SRT contributed to EF performance.
The current study recruited 36 children from a university hospital-affiliated clinic serving children with CIs. Children were between three and five years old (M=4.2, SD=0.7) and the age of implantation ranged from .8‒4.8 years (M= 1.8, SD=1.1). Measures of children’s receptive and expressive language skills were obtained through medical records. The analytic sample was composed of 33 children who all were administered the EF Touch battery (Willoughby et al., 2017), a computerized assessment of seven tasks measuring aspects of inhibitory control, working memory and attention shifting. The battery also included a task measuring SRT.
Results indicated that children with CIs performed similarly to other same-age populations (M =56% correct; Range=28%‒87%). Additionally, the floor and ceiling effects across tasks were small (Range=0%‒6%) indicating children could complete the tasks, but they did not get all of the items correct. Overall, child performance was lowest on the inhibitory control tasks, replicating previous findings. Regression analyses indicated that performance was not related to length of use of CIs, but was associated with language skills or SRT. Findings suggests that EF deficits in children with CIs may be a function of related abilities, such as language or SRT.

Authors

• Laura Kuhn, FPG, UNC-Chapel Hill
  Presenting Author

• Antonette Miguel, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
  Non-Presenting Author

• Michael T Willoughby, RTI International
  Non-Presenting Author