Parents' perspectives on a collaborative approach to the application of the Handwriting Without Tears^® programme with children with Down syndrome

Abstract

Background The active involvement of parents and children in goal setting and intervention is integral to contemporary occupational therapy process models. However, parental perspectives on collaborative handwriting intervention are limited. This paper presents parental perspectives on a three‐way collaboration involving teachers, parents and an occupational therapist in the application of Handwriting Without Tears® (HWT®) with children with Down syndrome. Methods Within a larger mixed methods study, 44 parents completed purpose‐designed questionnaires and six parents participated in a focus group, post 8 months of programme implementation. Both methods gathered parent's perspectives on the usefulness and limitations of applying HWT®. The focus group explored collaboration in depth. Analysis involved triangulation of data from descriptive analysis of numerical data with content analysis of open‐ended questions and focus group data. Findings Enablers of parent–child engagement in HWT® were identified as; the parent–child‐friendly aspects of HWT®, the teacher involvement ensuring continuity which eased demands on parents, the ongoing support/guidance of the occupational therapist and the child's involvement in HWT® group intervention. The occupational therapists' involvement was reported as essential to encouraging teacher/parent involvement. Barriers to child–parent engagement included fluctuations in child health, mood, attention span and time limitations including the child's involvement in other therapy programmes. Conclusions Parents perceived the HWT® and the three‐way collaborative approach as enabling active parent–child engagement in handwriting intervention. This approach warrants further investigation. Findings have the potential to inform practice guidelines and pre‐ and post‐graduation education related to collaborative handwriting intervention with children with Down syndrome and their families.

Consumer engagement in occupational therapy health‐related research: A scoping review of the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal and a call to action

“…Participants in these studies included people with acquired spinal cord injury (Barclay, McDonald, Lentin, & Bourke‐Taylor, 2016), adolescents on the autism spectrum and their parents (Hatfield, Murray, Ciccarelli, Falkmer, & Falkmer, 2017) and people with acquired brain injury (Patterson, Fleming, Doig, & Griffin, 2017). Similarly, member checking was noted as a strategy solely for enhancing credibility, dependability and validity of data (Anderson, Wilson, & Carmichael, 2018; Patton & Hutton, 2016) rather than as a way of providing an opportunity for consumer partnerships. Sometimes while reporting member checking for rigour, a brief mention, without elaboration, was made of the importance of the “participant story” (Aplin, de Jonge, & Gustafsson, 2015), or the “patient experience” (Emmerson, Harding, Lockwood, & Taylor, 2018).…”

Pre-handwriting Skills Learners Should Master at the Geginning of Grade 1

“…This practice was supported by the Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1990 and the Disabilities Education Act (DEA) of 1990 Law 101-476). In 2004, this law was expanded to make provision for collaboration between the educator and specialists to benefit learners with special needs [5].…”