The Impact of Language Capacity on Theory of Mind in Children with Cochlear Implants
7th World Congress of Cochlear Implants in Emerging Nations, İstanbul, Türkiye, 14 - 16 Eylül 2023, ss.109, (Özet Bildiri)
- Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
- Basıldığı Şehir: İstanbul
- Basıldığı Ülke: Türkiye
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.109
- Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Introduction: Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to understand others’ desires and thoughts and to attribute mental states to oneself, acknowledging that these mental states may differ from reality and impact behavior. It plays a crucial role in comprehending human behavior, encompassing desires, beliefs, knowledge acquisition, and emotional expressions. Previous research on children with cochlear implants (CI) has often focused on isolated aspects such as speech perception, social competence, or ToM performance. However, understanding the interrelationships among these factors might be essential for comprehending social cognition and planning effective social integration strategies for implanted children, similar to their typically developing peers. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between language, emotion, social competence, and ToM performance in CI recipient preschoolers. More specifically, we seek to determine if early auditory access to spoken language significantly influences the development of social cognition in this population. Method: This study was conducted on three groups: two CI groups - each consisting of 10 CI patients with normal cochlea or with inner ear malformation, and a control group comprising 5 normal-hearing children. All participants were between 60 and 72 months old at the time of evaluation. ToM scale, Test of Early Language Development – Third Edition, Child Emotion Expressiveness Questionnaire, Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation—Preschool Edition are used to evaluate social cognition. Results. Data collection is ongoing and will be presented at the conference. Social cognition will be compared between the two CI groups as well as with the control group. Conclusion: It is hypothesized that early implanted children may exhibit superior social cognition performance compared to the control group. On the other hand, cochlear malformation may have significant effects on overall social cognition performance. In addition to demonstrating the potential advantages of early implantation, preliminary results may facilitate the identification of indicators of deficit areas in terms of social cognition in children with cochlear implants and inform the development of rehabilitation strategies.
Keywords: cochlear implant, theory of mind, social cognition, speech perception,
preschoolers