Study on the Speech and Language Development in Children With Impaired Hearing Part Ⅱ On the Development of Speech and Language of the Children in the Special Class for the Hard of Hearing

Of the 17 handicapped pupils, 15 of them were sensori-neural and 2 of them were mixed type hearing loss, all having 42-82 db hearing loss in average of speech range and educated in the special class for hard of hearing over one year. Examinations were made as to their past history, audiometry, effects of hearing aid with lipreading, intelligibility of monosyllables, words and sentences, and hearing acuity, conversation intelligibility, sentence structure and training effect, and those results were compared with those in preceding one year. Principal findings are summarized as follows: 1) Articulation score of monosyllables of the pupils educated for over one year in the special class for hard of hearing was found to be 92.0% in maximum, 38.7% in minimum and 65.9% in average of the total pupils, in contrast to 85.0% in maximum, 26.7% in minimum and 52.4% in average of the total pupils in previous one year. 2) The articulation score at the first examination was in such an order as the articulation score of monosyllables 52.4% in average, of sentences 71.8% and of words 74.1%, and in the second year examination, the articulation score of monosyllables 65.9%, of words 81.0% and of sentences 84.5% . From the above results, it seems to be clear that articulation score can be improved with the hearing and speech training even in the perceptive deaf children. 3) In the all 17 pupils examined including 5 pupils who educated for one year at the special class, the articulation score of monosyllables have a inverse correlation with the level of hearing loss, and this is more marked in only the 12 pupils with over 2 years' education. 4) The pupils whose articulation score of sentences were found to be 100% had showed their average hearing in speech range in 42-67 db loss, and their articulation score of monosyllables were in 56.0% -75.3%. 5) It is found that those pupils with over three years' speech and language training could master themselves to utilize fully their articulation capabilities in pproportion to their hearing level. 6) It is concluded that for the children with impaired hearing the basic training for speech accompanied by language training should be started by the age of 3 years at the latest and completed before entering the primary school, and in the special class for such children the emphasis should be placed more on phrases and sentences rather than on monosyllbales and words.