Résumé
There are few tools to assess early lexicon on the expressive side of young children with hearing loss (HL). IFDC questionnaires are used in clinical practice and have been validated. Through this study, we wondered if the Di-EL, diary language created by Nott and her collaborators in 2003, could be a good tool to collect data about children with HL’s early lexicon development, and whether it could be used for family support. Methods: we proposed its use to 24 families with young children with HL, for a 10 months’ period. We collected the Di-EL three times, and asked families to complete IFDC tool at the same time. Then, we sent a satisfaction questionnaire about the Di-EL to the users and subject’s speech therapists. Results: both the Di-EL and the IFDC showed a significant increase of children’s lexical volume over time. At the three data collection points, the Di-EL proved to be as representative as the IFDC to evaluate participants’ lexicon. The language diary seems more accurate than the IFDC to capture "frozen phrases". Finally, the use of Di-EL encouraged parents to be more attentive to their child’s communication attempts and progress, and reinforced their involvement in the care intervention. Conclusion & perspectives: thus, the Di-EL could be used to collect data about children with HL’s early lexical development, and also as a tool for families who would be motivated to use it daily. It would be relevant to continue working on improving the Di-EL format, and to create a dedicated digital application.