The Effectiveness of Online Dialogic Storytelling on Vocabulary Skills of Hard of Hearing Children

The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of an online dialogic storytelling program on vocabulary skills (picture, relative, and oral vocabulary skills) of hard of hearing children.

In this experimental study with pre-test-post-test and a control group design, 34 mothers of hard of hearing children participated. Children’s ages range from 4 to 6 years and they were selected from aural rehabilitation centers in Tehran. They were assigned randomly into the experimental (n=17) and control (n=17) groups that were matched for age and sex. Before starting the online dialogic storytelling program, the children took the Test Of Language Development (TOLD-P: 3). The online dialogic storytelling was done 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week for 12 weeks for mothers and their children. After completion of the program, the language development test was administered to both groups as the post-test. The data were analyzed by 1-way Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA).

The results showed that the vocabulary skills, picture, relative and oral vocabulary of the experimental group significantly improved after participating in the online dialogic storytelling sessions (P<0.001)

Storytelling is one of the most effective ways to improve the vocabulary skills of hearing-impaired children and it seems that storytelling needs to be included in their rehabilitation programs.