The development of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Inventory of Skills in Audition, Language and Speech (CHISALS)

Abstract

As children are receiving cochlear implants at younger ages, benchmarks in speech, language, and auditory development can assist auditory-verbal therapists in setting expectation levels. Therapists can then counsel parents who often inquire how their children are progressing compared to peers with the same amount of listening experience. This article describes the second phase of development of the Children’s Hospital (of Eastern Ontario) Inventory of Skills in Audition, Language, and Speech (CHISALS). This 25- item checklist examines the development of audition, speech, and language in children up to 2 years post cochlear implantation whose cochlear implant(s) were activated by age 18 months. It also describes the construct validity of the CHISALS compared with standardized tests used to evaluate speech and language. In this pilot phase with 10 children, results indicate moderate–to-high correlations with these evaluations as well as with time.