When families use a listening and spoken language approach to communicate with their child, access to a rich linguistic environment through an intact auditory system is essential. In children with hearing loss, optimal auditory access is achieved through the consistent use of appropriately fitted hearing devices or other assistive hearing technology, allowing these children access to an ample language environment. Parents or caregivers of children with hearing loss or hearing concerns play a large role in facilitating their child’s use of hearing devices and supporting their child’s speech and language development, a potentially overwhelming experience for these families. The "Little Ears, Enormous Purpose" (LEEP) project was created three years ago to educate caregivers of children with hearing devices and build caregiver self-efficacy, i.e., their confidence to optimize their child’s amplification use and linguistic exposure, increase family knowledge on language outcomes, and increase consistent use of amplification. This was done through an online educational workshop to families with children identified with hearing loss and/or hearing concerns. The current study is a continuation of the LEEP project and provides data for the 2022-2023 cycle. Feedback from students, faculty, and families has been implemented to improve and create methods for the 2022-2023 cycle. In this study, three to four in-person individualized educational intervention meetings were held with the families and encompassed the impact of hearing loss and/or hearing concerns on language development, the importance of language exposure, the use and care of amplification/treatment options, and empowerment to establish consistent device use in families that utilize amplification or other technology. The families’ self-efficacy skills were assessed through a pre- and post-survey, the Scale of Parent Involvement and Self-Efficacy-Revised (SPISE-R). The SPISE-R questions caregivers about their child’s device use and their perceptions of their beliefs, knowledge, confidence, and actions to support their child’s auditory access and spoken language development. The assessment and workshop incorporated in this study were modeled after Ambrose et al. (J Early Hear Detect Interv, 2020), who developed the SPISE-R as a promising tool for use in early intervention to better understand and further support parent’s strengths and needs concerning their young child’s auditory access and spoken language development. We hypothesize a significant increase in parental understanding and confidence between the pre-survey and post-survey as a result of the series of intervention meetings. Participants were recruited through the ETSU Nave Center with the use of flyers. A total of two pre-surveys were completed. Two families attended all individualized sessions, with both families also completing the post-survey. Data analysis is in process using a paired samples T-test.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:asrf-2035 |
| Date | 25 April 2023 |
| Creators | Sealey, Hallie, Ooms, Katelyn, Hite, Marcy, Au.D., Ph.D, Johnson, Marie, M.S., CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT, Bramlette, Shannon P, Au.D., |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Appalachian Student Research Forum |
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