Communication Preferences of School-Age Children with Cochlear Implants in Multilingual Educational Settings: Implications for Inclusive Education and Public Health
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Design
2.2. Study Participants
2.3. Questionnaire Development
- Demographics: age, gender, grade, duration of CI use.
- Communication Preferences: reported use of spoken language, sign language, or bimodal strategies across academic and social contexts.
- Perceived Effectiveness and Comfort: ratings of ease and effectiveness of each mode.
- Qualitative Insights: open-ended questions on communication challenges and suggestions for improvement.
2.4. Pilot Testing and Validation of Questionnaire
2.5. Data Analysis
2.6. Qualitative Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Participant Characteristics
3.2. Communication Preferences Across Contexts
3.3. Associations with Demographic Factors and Adaptability
3.4. CI Duration and Comfort Levels
3.5. Thematic Analysis of Open-Ended Responses
- 1.
- Spoken communication challenges (n = 14): Participants reported that spoken language was more difficult than sign in noisy or fast-paced situations (e.g.,“صعبة غير لغة الإشارة/Hard not like sign language”).
- 2.
- Social barriers to sign use (n = 11): Participants emphasised that peers and teachers often lacked sign knowledge (e.g., “عدم معرفة الناس للغة الإشارة/Not all people know sign language”).
- 3.
- Recommendations for improvement (n = 8): Participants suggested wider public use of sign language and increased interpreter availability (e.g., “لغة الإشارة منتشر قليلا/sign language not public”; “مترجم قليلون/fewer interpreters”).
4. Discussion
4.1. Public Health and Educational Implications
4.2. Limitations
4.3. Future Directions
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
| CI | Cochlear Implants |
| UAE | United Arab Emirates |
| SCHS | Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services |
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| Tested Association | χ2 (df) | p-Value | Effect Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender (family) | 6.67 (2) | 0.036 | Cramer’s V = 0.46 |
| Home language (classroom) | 13.67 (4) | 0.008 | V = 0.46 |
| Home language (family) | 36.00 (4) | <0.001 | V = 0.75 |
| Home language (extracurricular) | 22.38 (4) | <0.001 | V = 0.59 |
| Home language (Friends) | 10.65 (4) | 0.031 | V = 0.41 |
| Age group (comparative analysis only) | 5.12 (4) | 0.276 | V = 0.25 |
| Grade level (comparative analysis only) | 4.67 (4) | 0.322 | V = 0.23 |
| Tested Association | χ2 (df) | p-Value | Effect Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adaptability vs. classroom preference | 1.54 (2) | 0.463 | V = 0.24 |
| Adaptability vs. age group | 2.03 (2) | 0.362 | V = 0.28 |
| Adaptability vs. grade level | 1.45 (2) | 0.484 | V = 0.22 |
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Ayas, M.; Madi, M. Communication Preferences of School-Age Children with Cochlear Implants in Multilingual Educational Settings: Implications for Inclusive Education and Public Health. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2025, 22, 1699. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22111699
Ayas M, Madi M. Communication Preferences of School-Age Children with Cochlear Implants in Multilingual Educational Settings: Implications for Inclusive Education and Public Health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2025; 22(11):1699. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22111699
Chicago/Turabian StyleAyas, Muhammed, and Marwa Madi. 2025. "Communication Preferences of School-Age Children with Cochlear Implants in Multilingual Educational Settings: Implications for Inclusive Education and Public Health" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 22, no. 11: 1699. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22111699
APA StyleAyas, M., & Madi, M. (2025). Communication Preferences of School-Age Children with Cochlear Implants in Multilingual Educational Settings: Implications for Inclusive Education and Public Health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 22(11), 1699. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22111699

