Conservation and Metaphor Acquisition in Hearing-Impaired Children: Some Relationships With Communication Mode, Hearing Acuity, Schooling, and Age

This study focused on conservation and metaphor acquisition in 35 hearing-impaired children who used different modes of communication and who spanned a wide age range. Children who used either cued speech or oral-aural communication modes were tested at two different school sites. Relationships were determined between the dependent variables, conservation and metaphor, and the independent variables of age, degree of hearing loss, years of schooling, and mode of communication.

Findings revealed a significant positive relationship between conservation and metaphor in both communication modes. Significant relationships between age and metaphor and between age and conservation were also found, suggesting that experience plays an important role in understanding both of them. Neither conservation nor metaphor was significantly related to either degree of hearing loss or communication mode. The conservation order of acquisition was number (91%), weight (60%), volume (50%), and liquid (46%). Suggestions for teachers based on the findings are presented.