Date of Degree

2010

Document Type

thesis

Degree Name

MA (Master of Arts)

Department

Speech Pathology and Audiology

First Advisor

J. Bruce Tomblin

Abstract

This study aimed to answer whether current research addressing executive function abilities in cochlear implant users was accurately depicting their impairments. Secondly, this study aimed to identify differences in identification of executive function impairments when measured using parent report versus behavioral measures of executive function. Results suggest that children do have executive function impairments in areas of measure nonverbal planning, problem-solving, monitoring, and self-regulation abilities as well as attention to a visually presented array of pictures which has been documented in previous research. However, it is likely that these abilities are modulated by children with cochlear implants' poorer language ability as demonstrated on the PPVT, which seems not to be related to their age of implantation. The behavioral measures and parent report measures identified impairments in the subsets which required a greater language demand and subsequently subsets that were significantly more difficult for CI children.

Pages

iv, 50

Bibliography

48-50

Copyright

Copyright 2010 Lea Ashley Greiner