Desenvolvimento da linguagem em crianças com implante coclear: terá o gênero alguma influência?

PURPOSE:to evaluate the influence of gender in the development of language skills in children with severe to profound sensorineural deafness after cochlear implant.METHODS:thirty children were studied, 12 females and 18 males, aged between 8 years and 1 month and 10 years of age, with severe to profound congenital bilateral sensorineural deafness with cochlear implant. The language structures analyzed were semantics, morphosyntax and phonology. The assessment tool used was the Language Observation Grid - school level.RESULTS:the average hearing age was of 72 months for females and 72.7 months for males. The scores obtained in the three linguistic structures were statistically similar between genders. Into each structure, the comparasion of each test, were also similar.CONCLUSIONS:gender did not influence the development of oral language in children with cochlear implants, in the three linguistic structures studied.