A new training package (3Cs: Connect, Communicate and Collaborate) for improving family responsive service delivery in early intervention for children with hearing loss: A proof of concept study

BACKGROUND

An objective of early intervention for children with hearing loss is to enhance family engagement in therapy to maximise a child's speech and language potential. However, requiring a service provider to work collaboratively with a child's family can create problems in developing and underdeveloped countries, where skilled service providers and services for children with hearing loss are lacking and where an expert model of intervention prevails.

OBJECTIVES

To determine the preliminary effectiveness of a new training package Connect, Communicate and Collaborate (3Cs), in improving the knowledge and confidence of service providers in the delivery of family responsive services in an early intervention program for children with hearing loss.

METHODS

Five learning modules were developed based on service provider experience working with children with hearing loss, and parents of children with hearing loss. Six participants completed the training package comprising five training modules and an introductory session over a 6-week period. Participants' confidence and knowledge in providing family responsive practice was measured pre and post training using visual analogue scales, and participants were also invited to provide their reflections on the program.

RESULTS

Pre- and post-training confidence ratings revealed significant improvements in the perceptions of participants in the implementation of responsive family practice across four of five of programme learning modules (p < 0.002). Participant reflection statements indicate they became more considerated in their family responsive practice. Despite positive experiences working with parents, participants stated they had ongoing difficulties guiding families through the decision-making processes of habilitation. The reflection process assisted learning and improved practice by supporting participants to build on their strengths.

CONCLUSION

The 3Cs package improved the confidence in and knowledge of delivery of responsive family services for six participants in Kuwait. It also improved the participant's self-evaluation skills. The 3Cs provides professional development that meets the needs of service providers working with children with hearing loss to improve inclusion of families in the therapy process.

Growing up with a cochlear implant: education, vocation, and affiliation

The long-term educational/vocational, affiliation, and quality-of-life outcomes of the first and second cohorts of children with bilateral, profound hearing loss who received cochlear implants under a large National Institutes of Health-funded study was investigated in 41 of 61 eligible participants. Educational and vocational outcomes were collected from user survey data. Affiliation and quality-of-life data were collected from the Satisfaction-with-Life scale and the Deaf Identity Scale. Qualitative results indicated that compared with their hearing, adult-age peers, this group obtained high educational achievement, and they reported a very high satisfaction of life. With respect to forming an identity in these first 2 cohorts of cochlear implant users, we found that most of the individuals endorsed a dual identity, which indicates they feel just as comfortable with Deaf individuals as they do with hearing individuals. Quantitative results revealed a significant relationship between ability to hear and ability to speak, in addition to consistency of device use. Additional relationships were found between mother's and the individual's educational statuses, hearing scores, and communication system used. Younger individuals scored higher on satisfaction-with-life measures, and they also tended to endorse a dual identity more often. Taken together, these findings diminish concerns that profoundly deaf individuals growing up with cochlear implants will become culturally bereft and unable to function in the hearing world.

Addressing Qualified Personnel Shortages for Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing With an Interdisciplinary Service Learning Program

Purpose

To describe the student training benefits for speech-language pathology graduate students involved in an interdisciplinary, community-based intervention program at a Midwestern university for families of preschool children who were deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) and auditory-based spoken language users.

Method

The Auditory and Language Enriched Program was developed to provide graduate students with a clinically relevant service learning opportunity that also met some unique community needs of families in the community. Specifically, students learned to provide families with imaginative ways to expose their children who were DHH to language and literacy and nurture their natural curiosity and zest for learning.

Results

Statistically significant improvement was noted between pre- and postintervention questionnaires of knowledge and skill related to intervention for this population by a single group of students.

Conclusions

An interdisciplinary service learning approach to intervention might provide opportunities for university graduate programs to address the immediate and long-term needs of families who have chosen a spoken language outcome for their young children who are DHH while simultaneously providing invaluable experience with low-incidence populations for their preservice graduate students.