Case Markers in Children with Intellectual Disability and Hearing Impairment

This study examined the usage of case markers in children with intellectual disability and hearing impairment. A total of 30 participants (15 with hearing loss aged 4-7 years and 15 with intellectual disability with mental age of 4-7 years) were assessed using lexical items and action verbs in Malayalam. Data was collected through spoken language observations and interviews, with sessions audio and video recorded. Results revealed that case marker performance was poor in both groups, but children with intellectual disability demonstrated significantly better performance than hearing-impaired children. The mean score for intellectually disabled children was 3.73 compared to 0.40 for hearing-impaired children. These findings highlight the need for morpho-syntactical studies in the Indian context to establish baselines for intervention and management strategies in both populations.