Parental Involvement in Deaf Children's Education Programs as a Predictor of Child's Language, Early Reading, and Social-Emotional Development

Abstract

This study examined the impact of school-based, teacher-rated parental involvement on four child outcomes: language development, early reading skills, and positive and negative measures of social-emotional development. The 28 children were assessed for outcomes between 9 to 53 months post-graduation from a birth-to-3 early intervention (EI) program for children with hearing loss. Other factors included in the study were child's hearing loss, mother's education level, mother's current communication skills with her child, and maternal use of additional services beyond those offered by the early intervention program or the child's school program. Parental involvement in children's school-based education program is a significant positive predictor to early reading skills but shares considerable variance with maternal communication skill for this outcome. In this study, maternal communication skills and the child's hearing loss were the strongest predictors for language development. Maternal use of additional services was the strongest predictor to poorer social-emotional adjustment. The study's findings indicate that although parental involvement in their deaf child's school-based education program can positively contribute to academic performance, parental communication skill is a more significant predictor for positive language and academic development. Factors associated with parental involvement, maternal communication, and use of additional services are explored and suggestions are offered to enhance parental involvement and communication skills.

Quality of Life in Pediatric Cochlear Implantations

“…This study applied to 36 families, whose children underwent the operation at 2 years of age after a recovery period of 2-3 years. Calderon [19] emphasized that the most important factor in the follow-up and control of children by healthcare providers was their family. Thus, the perspectives of families should be evaluated effectively.…”

Expressive vocabulary of children with hearing loss in the first 2 years of life: impact of early intervention

“…Several retrospective and prospective studies have evaluated the effects of EI for children with HL. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Better language outcomes have previously been reported for deaf and hard-ofhearing children who received EI by 11 months.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] We previously reported the beneficial effects of very early enrollment (p3 months) in EI for infants with HL on language outcomes at 12 to 16 months of age. 7 In addition, the children with bilateral moderate to profound HL lagged behind the children with mild HL and hearing peers in early receptive and expressive language.…”

Language and reading comprehension in middle childhood predicts emotional and behaviour difficulties in adolescence for those with permanent childhood hearing loss

“…In a cross‐sectional analysis, Calderon (2000) found that in 28 children with prelingual hearing loss of >55 dB HL aged between 45 and 88 months, the correlation between reading ability and externalising behaviour was r  = −.48 ( p  < .01).…”