Impact of Auditory-Verbal Therapy on executive functions in children with Cochlear Implants

OBJECTIVE: Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT) can be considered one of the best practices for children with Cochlear Implants (CIs) who show impairments in cognitive skills such as executive functions. Hence, this research examined the impact of AVT on the executive functions in children with CIs. METHODS: This was a randomized case control study with pre- and post-intervention assessments. The participants were 36 children with CIs and their mothers. They were randomly selected from rehabilitation centers and deaf pre-schools, and randomly allocated to a control (n = 18) and a study (n = 18) group. The mean age of the children in the study and control groups was 3.11 ± 0.31 years and 3.20 ± 0.29 years, respectively. Participants in the study group received 20 sessions of AVT over 10 weeks at twice a week, while those in the control group did not. All mothers completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function Pre-school Version (BRIEF-P) before and after children in the study group completed their AVT intervention. Data were analyzed by MANCOVA. RESULTS: The results suggest that AVT significantly influenced executive functions and all subscales including shifting, inhibition, emotional control, working memory and organization/planning in children with CIs. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that AVT may be effective in resulting in positive outcomes and may play an important role in improving executive functions in children with CIs.