Parent Education In Phonological Awareness And Early Literacy: A Qualitative Multiple Case Study On The Perspectives Of Parents Of Young Children With Hearing Loss

Abstract

Decades of research document that children with hearing loss struggled to achieve reading and writing skills that are on par with their hearing peers. Many graduated from high school functionally illiterate. In the past decade, however, early hearing detection and intervention efforts, including advances in hearing technologies, have improved a child’s ability to access spoken language and to develop listening and spoken language skills. These skills serve as a vital foundation for a child’s ability to learn to read and write. There is evidence that demonstrates that appropriate and early intervention make a significant and positive impact on the language development of young children with hearing loss. Early childhood research also demonstrates the benefit of parental involvement in a young child’s early literacy development. In this qualitative multiple case study, I investigated (a) parents’ (of young children with hearing loss) knowledge about the connection between hearing/hearing loss and early literacy, (b) their perspectives regarding their child’s early literacy development, and (c) their families’ routine literacy activities. I also developed an internet-based parent education module that teaches a speech sound-based (phonological) early literacy strategy, specifically how to teach their child about rhyming. This study also aims to understand parents’ perspectives and experiences with utilizing the online module as a parent resource and opportunities for guided practice of the targeted early literacy strategy. Although audiologists’ traditional scope of practice has not explicitly included early literacy, the findings of this proposed study may provide ideas for how audiologists can provide early literacy support for families of young children with hearing loss.