Assessing Parent Behaviours in Parent-Child Interactions with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Infants Aged 0-3 Years: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND

Despite early identification and advancements in cochlear implant and hearing aid technology, delays in language skills in deaf children continue to exist. Good-quality parent-child interaction (PCI) is a key predictor for the successful development of deaf children's signed and/or spoken language. Though professionals have standard assessments to monitor child language, a clinical tool to observe the quality of parental interaction is yet to be developed.

AIMS AND

METHODS

This systematic review with narrative synthesis aims to uncover which parent behaviours are assessed in PCI studies with deaf infants aged 0-3 years, how these behaviours are assessed, and which are correlated with higher scores in child language.

RESULTS

Sixty-one papers were included, spanning 40 years of research. Research included in the review assessed parents' skills in gaining attention, joint engagement, emotional sensitivity, and language input. PCI was mostly assessed using coding systems and frame-by-frame video analysis. Some of the parent behaviours mentioned previously are associated with more words produced by deaf children.

CONCLUSION

The results of the review provide the evidence base required to develop the content of a future clinical assessment tool for parent-child interaction in deafness.