The development of an interventional package on "receptive vocabulary” for cochlear implanted children

  Due to the shortage of language intervention protocols which specifically concentrate on language acquisition in cochlear implanted children and considering the importance of timely language intervention programs in this group of children, the aim of the present study was to develop an interventional package on “receptive vocabulary” based on the process of vocabulary development in normal children. By reviewing the literature related to language acquisition theories in normal and language disordered children, as well as literature on production of intervention protocols, especially those for language impaired children, and also considering the normal process of language and speech development in normal children, the first draft of the intervention protocol was prepared. Then, with the collaboration of 10 expert pediatricians, speech and language pathologists and linguistic experts as members of a Delphi team, the face and content validity of the intervention protocol was assessed through three Delphi rounds and finally approved. A step by step language intervention protocol entitled “An educational package on receptive vocabulary development of 12-48 months old Persian speaking cochlear implanted children “was developed based on developmental, cognitive and behavioral models and the normal process of language and speech development in children. The interventional package produced is believed to facilitate language acquisition in cochlear implanted children, according to expert qualitative assessment and approval. However, experimental research is required for verification of this assumption.