Although otitis media (OM) is very common and is increasingly being diagnosed at an early stage, some studies show that children with OM often present impairments in oral language and memory, as well as sleep disturbances. To date, no studies have been found focusing on the effects of OM during the early years of life on semantic-lexical development in European Portuguese-speaking children. This scarcity of national and international studies on the characteristics of semantic-lexical development in children with OM during the language acquisition period highlights the need to further investigate this domain, since the literature indicates that children with OM require more time to discriminate sounds, to understand words and sentences, and need to hear linguistic elements more often before memorizing them. This research aimed to analyze the consequences of OM during the early years of childhood—specifically between 3:00 and 5:11 years—on language development, particularly in the semantic-lexical domain, thereby contributing to the specialist literature and reinforcing the need for timely linguistic monitoring of these children. This work presents three studies, whose main objectives are to understand, analyze, and describe the consequences of OM on oral language, and to examine its impact on memory, cognition, and sleep quality, as reported in the literature. It also sought to investigate semantic-lexical performance, as well as the impact on cognition, working memory, and sleep quality, in European Portuguese-speaking children aged between 3:00 and 5:11 years, with or without OM, and with or without transtympanic ventilation tubes. A total of 86 children participated in this quasi-experimental study, aged between 3:00 and 5:11 years. The clinical group consisted of 43 children who had never had OM, 27 who had OM in the past and still had it at present, and 16 who had OM in the past but no longer did. The control group was composed of 43 children with no clinical history of OM. The sample of children with OM was collected by convenience sampling in the Lisbon district, Sintra municipality. The diagnosis and frequency of OM were confirmed by parents/guardians through a questionnaire. The research is structured into three chapters. The first presents a brief narrative literature review that analyzes and describes the consequences of OM on oral language and examines its impact on cognition, working memory, and sleep quality. The results revealed a lack of studies on semantic-lexical development and working memory in children with OM, making it relevant to investigate potential linguistic and memory impairments due to auditory input difficulties arising from frequent OM during child development. The second chapter presents the second study, which aimed to investigate the semantic-lexical performance of European Portuguese-speaking children in three groups: children who had OM in the past but not currently, children who had OM in the past and still currently, and children with no history of OM. To assess language, two instruments were applied: the Preschool Language Assessment Test (TL-ALPE) (Mendes et al., 2013) and the Semantic-Lexical Knowledge Task (TS) (Santos et al., 2023). The results showed that both groups of children with a history of OM (past and current) exhibited significant impairments in semantic-lexical knowledge compared with children who never had OM. It was also observed that children with past and current OM displayed poorer language performance in the areas of semantics, morphosyntax, metalinguistics, and phonology. It is worth noting that, although this study also aimed to compare oral language performance between children with and without transtympanic ventilation tubes (TVTT), the small number of children with (n = 10) and without (n = 6) TVTT led to merging the groups and not carrying out this comparison. The third study aimed to analyze the relationship between semantic-lexical performance, working memory, and sleep in preschool children with and without OM. Since OM in early childhood may temporarily affect hearing, with potential impacts on language, cognition, and sleep, this experimental study assessed semantic-lexical skills, working memory, and sleep quality in 86 Portuguese children aged 3:00 to 5:11 years, divided into three groups: with current OM (n=27), with past OM (n=16), and with no history of OM (n=43). Children were assessed with the Semantic-Lexical Task (Santos et al., 2023), the NEPSY-II Narrative Memory subtest, and the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ-PT). Results showed that children with OM, whether past or present, performed worse in language and memory skills compared to the group without OM. A correlation was also observed between sleep disturbances and language performance. It is concluded that OM can compromise child development, making early intervention and support for oral language and sleep essential. The studies reinforce the need to identify typical and atypical patterns of language development in children with a history of OM, contributing to timely linguistic diagnosis in this population and providing guidance for selecting intervention goals. In conclusion, identifying OM and carrying out timely oral language assessment can support oral language development, cognition, and promote adequate sleep.
| Period | 26 Jul 2022 → … |
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| Held at | Universidade Católica Portuguesa |
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| Degree of Recognition | PhD |
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