Relationship Between Executive Functions and School Readiness in Kindergarten Children With Cochlear Implant

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the relationship between executive functions and school readiness of kindergarten children with cochlear implants. The study included 109 children between the ages of 57 and 71 months, who were enrolled in a special education practice school for the deaf and followed up by the ear, nose, and throat diseases clinic, who had bilateral severe or profound sensorineural type hearing loss and who used bilateral cochlear implants. The participants' teachers filled out the Childhood Executive Functions Inventory and the Primary School Readiness Scale. The findings showed a significant relationship between the Childhood Executive Functions Inventory-Working Memory, Inhibitory Control, and Total scores and Primary School Readiness Scale of kindergarten children with cochlear implant (r values are -.793, -.819., and -.768, respectively; p < 0.01). The results obtained from this study emphasize the importance of interventions that support the executive functions and school readiness of children with cochlear implants from the earliest period and increase their participation in school life.