Perceptual Encoding Speed and Verbal Rehearsal Processes in Prelingually Deaf Children with Cochlear Implants: Some New Findings on Long-Term Outcomes

Individual differences in verbal working memory underlie substantial variation routinely observed in the speech and language outcomes of deaf children with cochlear implants (CI). In this chapter, we describe the nature of verbal working memory and its component processes: encoding, maintenance, and retrieval. We then present evidence suggesting that the verbal working memory delays and disturbances found recently in many young CI users are not idiopathic or anomalous but are consistent with a large body of earlier research on verbal working memory development in typically hearing and developing children. Specifically, prelingually deaf CI users appear to be at risk for slow and inefficient phonological recoding and verbal rehearsal processes because of the early atypical auditory and language environments in which their verbal working memory systems develop.