Expressive and receptive semantic skills in hearing impaired childrenRamadani Rasimi, Teuta (Avtor) Skubic, Darija (Mentor) Ozbič, Martina (Komentor) hearing impairmentLanguage is a social component that can be developed only if we have a fertile environment that stimulates the cognitive inner potential of the child. Children with permanent hearing loss, due to lack of auditory input have a delayed language acquisition and development, both in production and in comprehension, respectively form, content and use of the language. The aim of this dissertation is to research the level of comprehension and production of labels, categories, attributes, functions and definition, which enables to detect if there are differences among subjects with different mode of communication, degree of hearing loss and period of hearing loss. In order to realize this assessment, we administrated Test of Semantic Skills – Primary (TOSS) for receptive and expressive semantic skills on N=50 children aged 8 to 15 years old, attending residential school, using oral or sign language as a dominant mode of communication, with different degree of hearing loss (D/HH) and different period of hearing loss (pre-lingual or post-lingual). Results gathered in this dissertation show significantly higher knowledge of receptive semantic skills compared with expressive semantic skills, respectively the areas of labels, categories and functions are easier for PCHI to comprehend than state. Subjects using sign language excelled both in receptive and expressive tasks, whereas subjects using oral mode of communication, and deaf subjects showed higher level of performance in both receptive and expressive tasks compared to hard of hearing subjects. The period of hearing loss played an important part only for receptive tasks in favour of pre-lingual HIC, but not in the expressive tasks. The variables considered in this dissertation appeared to be an important factor for developing higher level of receptive and expressive semantic skills, which indicates that early exposure to language input, especially sign language to toddlers with HI, will indicate higher performance in receptive and expressive language. The findings are compared to existing literature and theory and are used to raise additional questions for further studies on language development. Recommendation and implications for speech therapists, teachers as well as policy makers working with children with hearing impairments are provided as well.20202020-05-23 03:29:22Doktorsko delo/naloga116211COBISS_ID: 16542723sl