Search

Purpose Individuals with intellectual disabilities often face communication challenges that can impact verbal communication, social interactions, and public speaking effectiveness. These challenges include decreased speech intelligibility, eye contact, and storytelling organization. The purpose of this study was to investigate the benefit of a 4.5-month public speaking coaching program for adult Special Olympics athletes with intellectual disabilities. Method Using a pre–post design, four athletes and their parents or caregivers completed questionnaires that rated the athletes' public speaking skills in 10 areas relevant for effective public speaking before and after the 4.5-month program. Graduate students in communication sciences and disorders worked with the adults on individualized goals identified from a preliminary speech and the self-report questionnaires. Differences in pre- and post-program response ratings and pre- and post-program speech behaviors were evaluated. Results Participation in the program resulted in positive changes in the athletes' public speaking ratings and behaviors, as measured by the athletes' and familiar-listeners' pre- and post-program questionnaires and the athletes' observed public speaking performance. Conclusions The results support the benefit of individualized coaching in public speaking programs. Because public speaking skills are important for communicating effectively in community interactions more broadly, the program also has potential relevance for use in clinical settings and education programs for adults and adolescents with and without intellectual disabilities.

To better explain variation in language acquisition in children with hearing loss, this study examined vocal (e.g., vocalization) and lexical (e.g., word) imitation in spontaneous interactions between mothers and children with 12 months of hearing experience using their cochlear implants (n = 12; mean age 27.9 months). Hearing children in two control groups were matched to children with cochlear implants, either by child chronological age (n = 12; mean age = 27.4 months) or by child hearing experience (n = 12; mean age 12 months). All three groups of mother–child dyads were audio-recorded playing together. Mothers and children in all groups imitated their partners’ vocalization and word utterances; however, the cochlear implant and hearing experience-matched groups produced fewer word imitations than the age-matched group. The frequency of preceding child vocalization or word production predicted maternal imitation type (vocalization or word); however, frequency of maternal vocalization predicted child vocalization imitation only. The results showed that child hearing experience affected imitation in both communication partners.

The goal of the study was to investigate prelinguistic consonant production and the influence of vocalizations that co-occurred with object mouthing on consonant production in infants with profound sensorineural hearing loss before and after cochlear implantation to advance knowledge of early speech development in infants with profound hearing loss.Participants were 43 infants, 16 infants with profound sensorineural hearing loss and 27 hearing infants. In the mixed longitudinal and cross-sectional design, infants with profound hearing loss and age-matched hearing infants participated before cochlear implantation, at an average age of 9.9 mo, and/or after cochlear implantation, at an average age of 17.8 mo. Mean age at cochlear implantation for infants with profound hearing loss was 12.4 mo; mean duration of cochlear implant use at time of testing was 4.2 mo.Before and after cochlear implantation, infants with profound hearing loss produced significantly fewer supraglottal consonants per consonant-vowel vocalization than hearing peers and had smaller overall consonant inventories. Before, but not after cochlear implantation, infants with profound hearing loss produced proportionally more vocalizations, supraglottal consonant-vowel vocalizations, and different supraglottal consonants in vocalizations during mouthing than did hearing infants.The results document consonant production before cochlear implantation in a larger group of infants with profound hearing loss than previously examined. The results also extend evidence of early delays in consonant production to infants who received cochlear implants at 12 mo of age, and show that they likely miss the potential benefits of auditory-motor feedback in vocalization-mouthing combinations that occur before they have access to sound through cochlear implants.

Purpose The goal of this study was to analyze verbal and nonverbal maternal response types following infant vocalizations in younger (ages 4–8 months) versus older (ages 10–14 months) infant groups and their potential implications for infant vocal development or word learning. Method Maternal response types that occurred within 3 s of infant vocalizations were examined in this cross-sectional study of naturalistic interactions in 35 mother–infant dyads. Response types were defined as vocally responsive to infant vocalizations (i.e., responsive vocal behaviors), not responsive to infant vocalizations directly (nonresponsive vocal behaviors), and silences. Mothers' nonverbal actions associated with each response type were also examined. Subcategories of these verbal and nonverbal response types were examined in relation to infant age group. Results The occurrence of responsive and nonresponsive verbal subcategory types differed by infant age group. When verbally responsive to infant vocalizations, mothers commented on younger infants' vowel and consonant–vowel vocalizations, but with older infants, mothers identified or named the referents of their vocalizations. When nonresponsive to vocalizations directly, mothers commented on younger infants' activities but redirected older infants' behaviors or commented on their movements. Silence after infant vocalizations was infrequent. Mothers' nonverbal actions associated with each response type were primarily object related and did not differ by age group. Conclusions Evaluating response type subcategories by age group indicated mothers did not respond differentially (verbally or nonverbally) to vowel or consonant–vowel vocalizations. Overall, the results suggest mothers' verbal and nonverbal response types may be more likely to facilitate word learning than vocal development.

The goal of this study was to compare dysphagia phenotypes in low and high copy number (LCN and HCN) transgenic superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) mouse models of ALS to accelerate the discovery of novel and effective treatments for dysphagia and early amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) diagnosis. Clinicopathological features of dysphagia were characterized in individual transgenic mice and age-matched controls utilizing videofluoroscopy in conjunction with postmortem assays of the tongue and hypoglossal nucleus. Quantitative PCR accurately differentiated HCN-SOD1 and LCN-SOD1 mice and nontransgenic controls. All HCN-SOD1 mice developed stereotypical paralysis in both hindlimbs. In contrast, LCN-SOD1 mice displayed wide variability in fore- and hindlimb involvement. Lick rate, swallow rate, inter-swallow interval, and pharyngeal transit time were significantly altered in both HCN-SOD1 and LCN-SOD1 mice compared to controls. Tongue weight, tongue dorsum surface area, total tongue length, and caudal tongue length were significantly reduced only in the LCN-SOD1 mice compared to age-matched controls. LCN-SOD1 mice with lower body weights had smaller/lighter weight tongues, and those with forelimb paralysis and slower lick rates died at a younger age. LCN-SOD1 mice had a 32% loss of hypoglossal neurons, which differed significantly when compared to age-matched control mice. These novel findings for LCN-SOD1 mice are congruent with reported dysphagia and associated tongue atrophy and hypoglossal nucleus pathology in human ALS patients, thus highlighting the translational potential of this mouse model in ALS research.

Infant development has rarely been informed by the behavior of infants with sensory differences despite increasing recognition that infant behavior itself creates sensory learning opportunities. The purpose of this study of object exploration was to compare the behavior of hearing and deaf infants, with and without cochlear implants, in order to identify the effects of profound sensorineural hearing loss on infant exploration before cochlear implantation, the behavioral effects of access to auditory feedback after cochlear implantation, and the sensory motivation for exploration behaviors performed by hearing infants as well. The results showed that 9-month-old deaf infants explored objects as often as hearing infants but they used systematically different approaches and less variation before compared to after cochlear implantation. Potential associations between these early experiences and later learning are discussed in the context of embodied developmental theory, comparative studies, and research with adults. The data call for increased recognition of the active sensorimotor nature of infant learning and future research that investigates differences in sensorimotor experience as potential mechanisms in later learning and sequential memory development.

In today's public libraries, children's librarians are challenged to provide inclusive programming that welcomes all individuals, including deaf and hard-of-hearing children at risk for delayed reading and literacy development. This study, using quantitative survey data and qualitative interview methods, investigated the programs and accommodations public libraries provide for deaf and hard-of-hearing children, the impetus for providing these programs, and the training required. Nearly 500 public libraries in the United States with service areas greater than 100,000 patrons were invited to participate in an online survey. Fifty-nine librarians completed the survey and 11 participated in an additional telephone interview. Results indicated less than half of the libraries surveyed provided services for deaf and hard-of-hearing children. Nearly all of the programs offered were inclusive; among the accommodations provided were books with sign language and sign language interpreters. Training was the most common limitation facing librarians in their role as community partners in the literacy development of deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

Purpose This study evaluated the potential benefit to graduate students’ of participating in a service-learning program conducting a storybook reading program for children in a family homeless shelter. Method Ten graduate students in the second year of a two-year master's degree program in communication science and disorders participated in the storybook reading program. The graduate students engaged in reflective writing about their experiences and completed self-ratings of confidence in preliteracy skills before and after program participation. Twenty graduate students in two comparison groups (10 students in a pre-program comparison group, and 10 in a post-program comparison group) also completed questionnaires. The mixed-methods study used quantitative analyses to analyze questionnaire ratings and qualitative methods to analyze reflective writings. Results Together, the quantitative and qualitative results indicated positive outcomes from the service-learning experience with regard to graduate students’ perceived confidence in preliteracy skills and preparation for careers as speech-language pathologists. The results provide empirical data showing that service-learning experiences with at-risk populations can contribute to graduate students’ clinical education and preparation as speech-language pathologists. Conclusion The results support the value of service-learning experiences in communication sciences and disorders. Clinical preparation in preliteracy development also supports the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association statement on the roles and responsibilities of speech-language pathologists in relation to reading and writing in children.

Pre-implant predictors of language and cognitive outcomes in children with cochlear implants have been mostly limited to residual hearing and demographic variables. These variables have accounted for a limited portion of variance in outcomes and for the most part only in children who received cochlear implants from 3 to 5 years of age and later. With cochlear implantation now regularly occurring in the first year of life, there is new interest in identifying pre-implant variables with greater predictive value, including pre-implant measures of infant learning and behavior in the first 12 months. The search for pre-implant variables in the first year has been limited by the challenges inherent in assessing preverbal infants with little or no access to signed or spoken language. This review includes research on pre-implant predictors from a longitudinal study, behavioral measures in infants implanted at 12 months of age, and relevant research on early learning in hearing infants.

Access to books and storybook reading contribute to children's language, literacy and academic development. Homeless children often experience delays in these areas of development; however, their access to books and storybook reading is understudied. This study of 24 children in a family homeless shelter and 27 housed children in the same urban neighborhood found homeless children had fewer books, visited libraries less often, were unlikely to have library cards, and fewer were read to daily. Identifying these disparities has implications for reducing the inequalities and developmental risks often associated with childhood homelessness and associated challenges for schools that educate them.

Purpose This study tested proposals that maternal verbal responses shape infant vocal development, proposals based in part on evidence that infants modified their vocalizations to match mothers' experimentally manipulated vowel or consonant–vowel responses to most (i.e., 70%–80%) infant vocalizations. We tested the proposal in ordinary rather than experimentally manipulated interactions. Method Response-based proposals were tested in a cross-sectional study of 35 infants, ages 4 to 14 months, engaged in everyday interactions in their homes with their mothers using a standard set of toys and picture books. Results Mothers responded to 30% of infant vocalizations with vocal behaviors of their own, far fewer than experimentally manipulated response rates. Moreover, mothers produced comparatively few vowel and consonant–vowel models and responded to infants' vowel and consonant–vowel vocalizations in similar numbers. Infants showed little evidence of systematically modifying their vocal forms to match maternal responses in these interactions. Instead, consonant–vowel vocalizations increased significantly with infant age. Conclusions Results obtained in ordinary interactions, rather than response manipulation, did not provide substantial support for response-based mechanisms of infant vocal development. Consistent with other research, however, consonant–vowel productions increased with infant age.

Objectives The primary objective of the study was to examine the occurrence and temporal structure of vocal turn-taking during spontaneous interactions between mothers and their children with cochlear implants (CI) over the first year after cochlear implantation as compared with interactions between mothers and children with normal hearing (NH). Design Mothers' unstructured play sessions with children with CI (n = 12) were recorded at 2 time points, 3 months (mean age 18.3 months) and 9 months (mean age 27.5 months) post-CI. A separate control group of mothers with age-matched hearing children (n = 12) was recorded at the same 2 time points. Five types of events were coded: mother and child vocalizations, vocalizations including speech overlap, and between- and within-speaker pauses. We analyzed the proportion of child and mother vocalizations involved in turn-taking, the temporal structure of turn-taking, and the temporal reciprocity of turn-taking using proportions of simultaneous speech and the duration of between- and within-speaker pauses. Results The CI group produced a significantly smaller proportion of vocalizations in turn-taking than the NH group at the first session; however, CI children's proportion of vocalizations in turn-taking increased over time. There was a significantly larger proportion of simultaneous speech in the CI compared with the NH group at the first session. The CI group produced longer between-speaker pauses as compared with those in the NH group at the first session with mothers decreasing the duration of between-speaker pauses over time. NH infants and mothers in both groups produced longer within- than between-speaker pauses but CI infants demonstrated the opposite pattern. In addition, the duration of mothers' between-speaker pauses (CI and NH) was predicted by the duration of the infants' between-speaker pauses. Conclusions Vocal turn-taking and timing in both members of the dyad, the mother and infant, were sensitive to the experiential effects of child hearing loss and remediation with CI. Child hearing status affected dyad-specific coordination in the timing of responses between mothers and their children.

This study investigated the reduplicated, or repetitive vocalizations of hearing infants and infants with profound hearing loss with and without cochlear implants using a new measure of repetition in order to address questions not only about the effects of cochlear implantation on repetitive babbling, but also about the reason repetitive vocalizations occur at all and why they emerge around 7 or 8 months of age in hearing infants. Participants were 16 infants with profound hearing loss and 27 hearing infants who participated at a mean age of 9.9 months and/or a mean age of 17.7 months. Mean age at cochlear implantation for infants with profound hearing loss was 12.9 months, and mean duration of implant use was 4.2 months. The data show that before cochlear implantation, repetitive vocalizations were rare. However, 4 months after cochlear implant activation, infants with hearing loss produced both repetitive vocalizations and repetitions per vocalization at levels commensurate with their hearing peers. The results support the hypothesis that repetition emerges as a means of vocal exploration during the time when hearing infants (and infants with cochlear implants) form auditory-motor representations and neural connections between cortical areas active in syllable production and syllable perception, during the transition from nonlinguistic to linguistic vocalization.

This study investigated effects of profound hearing loss on mother–infant interactions before and after cochlear implantation with a focus on maternal synchrony, complexity, and directiveness. Participants included two groups of mother–infant dyads: 9 dyads of mothers and infants with normal hearing; and 9 dyads of hearing mothers and infants with profound hearing loss. Dyads were observed at two time points: Time 1, scheduled to occur before cochlear implantation for infants with profound hearing loss (mean age = 13.6 months); and Time 2 (mean age = 23.3 months), scheduled to occur approximately six months after cochlear implantation. Hearing infants were age-matched to infants with hearing loss at both time points. Dependent variables included the proportion of maternal utterances that overlapped infant vocalizations, maternal mean length of utterance, infant word use, and combined maternal directives and prohibitions. Results showed mothers’ utterances overlapped the vocalizations of infants with hearing loss more often before cochlear implantation than after, mothers used less complex utterances with infants with cochlear implants compared to hearing peers (Time 2), and mothers of infants with profound hearing loss used frequent directives and prohibitions both before and after cochlear implantation. Together, mothers and infants adapted relatively quickly to infants’ access to cochlear implants, showing improved interactional synchrony, increased infant word use, and levels of maternal language complexity compatible with infants’ word use, all within seven months of cochlear implant activation.

Vocal matching, the ability to imitate phonetic properties of speech, was examined in interactions between mothers and their normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired twins who used hearing aids (HAs) or a cochlear implant (CI). Vocalizations of three mother-twin triads were recorded in three sessions over 12 months. In one triad, the twins were 15.8 months old and NH. In another triad, the twins were 11.8 months; one was NH while the other had HAs. In the third triad, both twins were 14.8 months; one was NH while the other had a CI. A vocal match was defined as an instance of perceptual and acoustic similarity between adjacent maternal and infant utterances in relation to pitch height and contour, utterance duration, rhythm, or vowels and consonants. Reciprocal vocal matching occurred in 28% to 38% of infant vocalizations across triads. At session three, CI and HA infants’ reciprocal vocal matches increased compared to two previous sessions and to those of NH siblings; reciprocal vocal matches in the NH d...

This study investigated receptive vocabulary delay in deaf children with cochlear implants. Participants were 23 children with profound hearing loss, ages 6–14 years, who received a cochlear implant between ages 1.4 and 6 years. Duration of cochlear implant use ranged from 3.7 to 11.8 years. Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Third Edition (PPVT-III) data were analyzed first by examining children’s errors for evidence of difficulty in specific lexical content areas, and second by calculating standard scores with reference to hearing age (HA) (i.e., chronological age [CA] − age at implantation) rather than CA. Participants showed evidence of vocabulary understanding across all PPVT-III content categories with no strong evidence of disproportionate numbers of errors in any specific content area despite below-average mean standard scores. However, whereas mean standard scores were below the test mean established for hearing children when based on CA, they were within the average range for hearing children when calculated based on HA. Thus, children’s vocabulary knowledge was commensurate with years of cochlear implant experience, providing support for the role of spoken language experience in vocabulary acquisition.

This study investigates relations between language and cognitive scores in children with receptive language (RL) delay and suggests guidelines for referral for cognitive testing. This retrospective review of the test scores of 41 children, ages 17 to 76 months (mean = 37.7 months), focuses on examining associations between RL and cognitive scores. Results show that mean RL scores are positively correlated with mean cognitive scores and that receptive scores are significant predictors of cognitive performance. Children with RL scores of >1 standard deviation below the mean are at risk for concomitant cognitive deficits. Because children with RL delay are at considerable risk for cognitive deficits, the authors recommend considering referral for cognitive testing when RL standard scores fall below 85.

Communicative breakdowns were created in response to toddlers' single-word requests by means of two feedback conditions: one involving goal substitution, the other stating explicitly that the speaker was not understood (i.e., `I don't know what you mean'). Participants were 15 children, ages 17—25 months. Children typically abandoned their original requests in response to goal substitution but revised or repeated their requests when confronted with `I don't know what you mean.' Thus, in the early stages of language development, toddlers' response persistence appeared to depend in large part upon motivation for goal attainment.

To investigate visual-motor integration (VI) skills of prelingually deaf (PLD) children before and after cochlear implantation (CI) and investigate correlations with spoken-language and related processing measures.Study 1 was a longitudinal study in which VI was tested preimplant. Study 2 was a cross sectional study of school-age children who used a CI for2 years.In study 1, a standardized design-copying task was administered preimplant, and spoken-language data were obtained at intervals up to 4 years postimplantation. Analyses were conducted to determine if preimplant VI scores were predictive of various spoken-language measures. In study 2, standardized design copying and speeded maze tracing tasks were administered along with speech perception, vocabulary, and related processing measures.Whereas preimplant VI scores for children in study 1 fell within the typical range based on age-equivalent norms, postimplant VI standard scores in study 2 were low compared to the normative sample. Postimplant VI scores were inversely related to age at implantation. Preimplant VI scores were robustly predictive of most, but not all, spoken-language outcome scores. Postimplant design copying scores were also correlated with spoken-language and related processing measures whereas maze-tracing scores were less robustly related to these measures.Early auditory and linguistic experience may impact the development of VI skills. VI is a preimplant predictor of later spoken language outcomes. Design copying and speeded maze tracing tasks appear to tap different sets of cognitive resources in PLD children with CIs.

The performance of deaf children with cochlear implants was assessed using measures standardized on hearing children. To investigate nonverbal cognitive and sensorimotor processes associated with postimplant variability, five selected sensorimotor and visuospatial subtests from A Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment (NEPSY) were compared with standardized vocabulary, reading, and digit span measures. Participants were 26 deaf children, ages 6-14 years, who received a cochlear implant between ages 1 and 6 years; duration of implant use ranged from 3 to 11 years. Results indicated significant correlations between standard scores on the Design Copying subtest of the NEPSY and standard scores on vocabulary comprehension, reading, and digit span measures. The results contribute to our understanding of the benefits of cochlear implantation and cognitive processes that may support postimplant language and academic functioning.

Although vocalization and mouthing are behaviors frequently performed by infants, little is known about the characteristics of vocalizations that occur with objects, hands, or fingers in infants' mouths. The purpose of this research was to investigate characteristics of vocalizations associated with mouthing in 6- to 9-month-old infants during play with a primary caregiver. Results suggest that mouthing may influence the phonetic characteristics of vocalizations by introducing vocal tract closure and variation in consonant production.

The purpose of this investigation was to learn the degree to which cochlear implantation at 12 months of age could reduce gaps in performance between hearing age and chronological age - that is, whether infants with access to cochlear implants at 12 months of age would be 12 months delayed, or less, in vocabulary production one year later.Baseline vocabulary production was measured by parent interview and direct observation approximately 4 months post cochlear implant (CI) activation, and again 12 months after CI activation using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences.Infants produced few if any words shortly after CI activation. Word production increased significantly during the 12 months following CI activation but scores were still significantly below age-level expectations based on chronological age. Vocabulary scores were, however, significantly better than expected based on hearing age, or duration of implant use.Word production was delayed at both time points; however, access to cochlear implants at 12 months of age decreased the size of anticipated delays one year later, narrowing the expected gap between hearing age and chronological age.

The motivation for infants’ non-word vocalizations in the second half of the first year of life and later is unclear. This study of hearing infants and infants with profound hearing loss with and without cochlear implants addressed the hypothesis that vocalizations are primarily motivated by auditory feedback. Early access to cochlear implants has created unique conditions of auditory manipulation that permit empirical tests of relations between auditory perception and infant behavior. Evidence from two separate tests of the research hypothesis showed that, before cochlear implantation, infants with profound hearing loss vocalized significantly less often than hearing infants; however, soon after cochlear implantation, they vocalized at levels commensurate with hearing peers. In contrast, vocal behaviors that are typically considered reflexive or emotion-based signals (e.g., crying) were infrequent overall and did not vary with auditory access. These results support the hypothesis that auditory feedback is a critical component motivating early vocalization frequency.

Infants learn about their environment through sensory exploration, acquiring knowledge that is important for cognitive development. However, little is known about the sensory exploration of infants with profound hearing loss before or after they receive cochlear implants. This paper reviews aspects of sensory perception and cognitive development in hearing infants, discusses the implications of delayed access to auditory information for multisensory perception and cognitive development in infants who use cochlear implants, and suggests several new directions for research addressing multisensory exploration and cognitive development in infants with cochlear implants.

This study measured longitudinal change in six parameters of infant utterances (i.e. number of sounds, CV syllables, supraglottal consonants, and repetitions per utterance, temporal duration, and seconds per sound), investigated previously unexplored characteristics of repetition (i.e. number of vowel and CV syllable repetitions per utterance) and analyzed change in vocalizations in relation to age and developmental milestones using multilevel models. Infants (N=18) were videotaped bimonthly during naturalistic and semi-structured activities between 0 ; 3 and the onset of word use (M=11·8 months). Results showed that infant utterances changed in predictable ways both in relation to age and in relation to language milestones (i.e. reduplicated babble onset, word comprehension and word production). Looking at change in relation to the milestones of language development led to new views of babbling, the transition from babbling to first words, and processes that may underlie these transitions.

This study was designed to provide a general picture of infant vocal–motor coordination and test predictions generated by Iverson and Thelen’s (1999) model of the development of the gesture–speech system. Forty-seven 6- to 9-month-old infants were videotaped with a primary caregiver during rattle and toy play. Results indicated an age-related increase in frequency of vocal–motor coordination, greater coordination with arm (specifically right arm) than leg or torso movements, and a temporal pattern similar to that in adult gesture–speech coproductions. Rhythmic vocalizations (consonant–vowel repetitions) were more likely to occur with than without rhythmic movement, and with rhythmic manual than with nonmanual activity, and the rate of vocal– manual coordination was higher in babblers than in prebabblers. Speakers in cultures the world over produce spontaneous hand gestures, and these gestures are tightly linked to contemporaneous speech. The strength of this link has been demonstrated in gesture suppression experiments and in studies of communication among blind individuals. Thus, for example, narratives produced with gestures prohibited are more verbally dysfluent than those produced when gesturing is permitted (Rauscher, Krauss, & Chen, 1996), and congenitally blind speakers, despite never having seen the gestures of others, not only gesture when speaking, but do so even when talking to a blind listener (Iverson, 1999; Iverson & GoldinMeadow, 1997, 1998, 2001).

Critical aspects of spoken language depend on perceiving and understanding speech sounds. For deaf infants, however, neither sound perception nor awareness of the sound‐making consequences of their actions is available. The goal of this study was to uncover and document early, measurable effects of hearing loss on infant vocalization and changes in these behaviors following cochlear implantation. Participants were 8 deaf infants, 7‐11 months old, and 8 infants with cochlear‐implants, 12‐20 months old and 1‐6 months post‐implantation. Dependent variables include number of vocalizations, mean vocalization duration, and mean frequency before and after cochlear implantation and in relation to reduplicated babble onset and word production. Post‐implant changes in vocal behaviors may have clinical implications for decisions regarding age of implantation and auditory habilitation as well as for understanding post‐implant variability.