Abstract:

Background:
The comprehension of the role of morality in emotions has not been widely studied in hearing children and there are few studies with deaf children with cochlear implants (CI) in the early ages. Ketelaar et al. (2015) showed that there is a relationship between moral emotions and social functioning in hearing children, but not in the group of children with CI, and the emotional vocabulary was related to social functioning in both groups of children. At the moment, we do not know how the CI influence in the comprehension of the role of morality in emotions, which has favored important progress in other dimensions, such as in the acquisition of oral language.

Aims:
a) Describe the comprehension of the role of morality in emotions and b) analyze the influence of cochlear implant on the comprehension of the role of morality of children of 3 to 6-year olds with IC.

Method & Procedures:
The design of this study is transversal. The participants were eighteen (11 girls and 7 boys), preschool children with CI from 3 to 6-year olds (mean = 4.44), without associated pathologies and with at least 6 months of hearing age. The comprehension of the role of morality in emotions was evaluated with the Emotional Comprehension Test (TEC) of Pons & Harris (2000).

Results:
The results show that there is a bivariate correlation between the comprehension of the role of morality in emotions and bilateral CI.

Conclusions:
It is essential to continue studying the comprehension of the role of morality in emotions, mainly because it can influence on the social abilities of these children. Thus, we can continue to guide and deliver guidelines to families and the team of therapists.

Keywords:

Cochlear implant, emotions, comprehension of emotions, role of morality, preschool children.