The Phonemic Awareness Skills of Cochlear Implant Children andChildren with Normal Hearing in Primary School

Objectives: phonemic awareness skills have a significant impact on children speech and language. thepurpose of this study was investigating the phonemic awareness skills of children with cochlear implantand normal hearing peers in primary school.methods: phonemic awareness subscales of phonological awareness test were administered to 30children with cochlear implantation at the first to sixth grades of primary school and 30 children withnormal hearing who were matched in age with cochlear implant group. all of children were between 6 to11 years old. children with cochlear implant had at least 1 to 2 years of implant experience and they wereover 5 years when they receive implantation. children with cochlear implant were selected from specialeducation centers in tehran and children with normal hearing were recruited from primary schools intehran. the phonemic awareness skills were assessed in both groups.results: the results showed that the mean scores of phonemic awareness skills in cochlear implantchildren were significantly lower than children with normal hearing (p <.0001).discussion: children with cochlear implant, despite cochlear implantation prosthesis, had lowerperformance in phonemic awareness when compared with normal hearing children. therefore, due toimportance of phonemic awareness skills in learning of literacy skills, and defects of these skills inchildren with cochlear implant, these skills should be assessed carefully in children with cochlear implantand rehabilitative interventions should be considered.