Naming following Multiple Exemplar Instruction in Children with Hearing Loss

Resumo

Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder (ANSD) is a type of hearing impairment wherein people can detect auditory stimuli, but sounds are processed in a desynchronized manner. This affects sound discrimination, dictated word recognition, pictures and events naming, and, therefore, vocabulary acquisition and expansion. Cochlear Implants (CI) are used as an intervention approach that enables sound detection, but they require auditory skills learning. Multiple Exemplar Instruction (MEI) has been used to promote the integration between listening and speaker behaviors, as well as the emergence of naming in children with minimal verbal repertoires. Speaker unidirectional naming is a subtype in which listening responses to specific items are directly taught, and, following the instruction, the child can respond as a speaker to the same items, naming them, without direct training. This study evaluated MEI on the integration between listening and speaker behaviors, as well as on the emergence of speaker unidirectional naming in two boys, aged 6 and 10, diagnosed with ANSD and users of CIs. Selection-based listening behavior, echoic responses, and tacting pictures were included in MEI and assessed pre- and post-intervention, with three sets of stimuli. The third set of stimuli evaluated the emergence of a new repertoire after exposure to MEI and the results were positive in unidirectional speaker naming for both participants. The results are discussed in terms of the experimental control for future research and the potential clinical application of MEI in the auditory rehabilitation of children with ANSD and CIs, as well as its relevance to future research directions.

Keywords: verbal behavior; hearing impairment; multiple exemplar instruction; naming