Tech Tool Accelerates Language Development for Children Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Published January 2021 | Pediatrics
For young children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), language development can be challenging—up to 40 percent of DHH children under 6 develop language gaps that make it harder for them to function socially and succeed academically.
Now, an intervention using a tablet with special software can help them catch up. A clinical trial led by Jareen Meinzen-Derr, PhD, MPH, shows the benefit of incorporating the tool into therapy sessions when compared to traditional therapies.
“With spoken language, messages are said or spoken out loud and then disappear,” says Meinzen-Derr. “DHH children sometimes struggle to catch and process all of what is said. As a result, they may have difficulty developing language skills in the same way as their hearing peers.”
The technology-assisted language intervention (TALI) allows DHH children to work with words in a way that is different than listening. When users touch images on the screen, the app announces corresponding words, phrases, and messages.
Researchers explored the effectiveness of the tool by randomly assigning 41 children to standard care or the TALI approach. After 24 weeks, the children in the TALI group demonstrated significantly greater increases in the length of phrases used to express themselves, along with improvements in the number of different words spoken and in conversational turn-taking.
When integrated with therapy sessions and used at home, TALI empowers families and providers with more therapeutic intervention choices to enhance a child’s language ability, communication skills, and social relationships.
Meinzen-Derr currently has a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to expand the clinical trial to a more diverse population across Cincinnati Children’s and Colorado Children’s hospitals.
Language Learning Tool for Deaf and Hard of Hearing
This screenshot depicts the tablet interface used by participants in the TALI clinical trial.
