Language Skills and Literacy of Deaf Children in the Era of Cochlear Implantation: Suggestions for Teaching through E-learning Visual Environments

Various studies highlighted that a severe to profound deafness, in children, effects the acquisition and mastering of spoken language. To date approximately 80.000 infants and children worldwide use cochlear implants (CI). Data collected post-implantation, have shown contrasting results and large individual variability in linguistic proficiency of children with CI. The chapter offers an overview of recent studies that have analyzed the role of specific parameters (i.e. age at diagnosis, age at CI activation, family environment and exposure to signs) influencing language outcomes. Implications for the development of new e-learning environments designed for promoting written language skills in deaf students, with or without sign language competence, will be discussed, taking in due account the potentials these learners possess. We will report an example of a visually-grounded, distance-learning environment in which the contents to be mastered are made available in different visual forms: linguistic (written text, sign language) and non-linguistic (videos, photos).