‘It’s just so lovely to hear him talking’: Exploring the early-intervention expectations and experiences of parents

Abstract

Little research to date explores parental experiences of early intervention. This study uses action research over a six-month period to explore the expectations and experiences of parents whose children attended an early-intervention group for speech/language impairments. This intervention programme was facilitated by a speech and language therapist and a psychologist and took place in the West of Ireland. Two focus groups were conducted with the parents of these children: one pre-intervention and one post-intervention. The focus groups were facilitated by two of the authors who were unfamiliar to the participants. Following each focus group, a summary of themes that emerged from the discussion was discussed with the clinical staff. Two changes were subsequently implemented: the timing of the group and clarification of parents’ roles. Thematic network analysis was conducted in accordance with the processes outlined by Attride-Stirling (2001). Three global themes of progress, uncertainty and dissatisfaction emerged from the analysis pre- and post-intervention. In addition the global theme of certainty emerged pre-therapy and the global theme of satisfaction emerged post-therapy. The findings of this study highlight the importance of both service users and clinical staff co-constructing a shared frame of reference so that they can engage more fully in the therapy process.

Involvement of parents in intervention for childhood speech sound disorders: a review of the evidence

“…Discussing these circumstances and parent's expectations with each family prior to commencing intervention may help to improve satisfaction and compliance levels (Miron , Lyons et al . ). Additionally, this would assist SLTs and families ‘in designing programs that best meet their children's immediate and longer term needs, and contribute to their quality of lives and functioning’ (McLeod et al .…”

‘It is not going to change his life but it has picked him up’: a qualitative study of perspectives on long term oxygen therapy for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

“…All references relating to long term oxygen therapy were entered into NVIVO qualitative data analysis software and analysed following the thematic network analysis approach (TNA) [19]. TNA is increasingly being used for analysis of interview and focus group data in health and social care settings [20-24] and is recognised as a robust form of thematic analysis [25], particularly useful in identifying and portraying hierarchies of themes.…”

Language development, delay and intervention-the views of parents from communities that speech and language therapy managers in England consider to be under-served

“…The process of referral for services as well as the intervention process itself can be filled with uncertainty, fear and difficulty (Lindsay and Dockrell , Lyons et al . ) and parents have expressed varying views of the value of SLT interventions (Glogowska and Campbell , Lyons et al . ), as well as some confusion about the nature of interventions (Roulstone et al .…”

“…) and parents have expressed varying views of the value of SLT interventions (Glogowska and Campbell , Lyons et al . ), as well as some confusion about the nature of interventions (Roulstone et al . , Jegatheesan et al .…”