Each of the four phases below have contributed to the core content and recommended process of a video-based observational tool for families with deaf children aged 0-3 years. The EPID tool is designed for use with all deaf children, regardless of communication approach(es) or the presence of additional disabilities. The EPID will positively identify features of parental sensitivity, as well as parent behaviours that support joint engagement, language access, and language enrichment.
The involvement of parents of deaf children and hearing and deaf professionals working with families was embedded throughout. This meant that the core role that parents play in their deaf child’s development was centred, as was parent voice, parent learning, and parent wellbeing. Parent involvement ensured a more family-centred assessment tool was developing, rather than a clinical tool purely for professional benchmarking.
Phase one was a systematic review of the research evidence with the following questions: Which parent behaviours are being assessed in parent-deaf child interaction? How are these behaviours assessed? And which of these behaviours are associated with deaf children’s language acquisition?
This review is now published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine (2021). Open access, freely downloadable.
Phase two was a mixed methods study, a UK-wide survey of practitioners working with deaf children 0-3 in the UK and then some follow-up focus groups to shed more light on the survey results. Both the survey and the focus groups study investigated current practice in the assessment of parent child interaction with deaf children aged 0-3.
The survey study was published in the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders (2023). Open access / freely downloadable.
The qualitative, focus groups study was published in Frontiers in Psychology in 2024. Open access / freely downloadable.
Phase three was an multidisciplinary consensus study, where 83 international expert academics and professionals rated 69 statements in accordance to perceived importance. These statements were generated from the previously presented studies and were either parent behaviours to be included in the tool or approaches to be implemented during the assessment appointment.
This international consensus was published in PLOS One in 2024. Open access / freely available.
Parent and professional involvement was embedded throughout the project. The ways in which hearing and deaf parents and professionals shaped the research questions and analysis of each phase is documented within each publication above. Phase four was the coproduction of the EPID tool where coproducers put the findings into practice and decided on language, function and design.
Parent involvement has left a distinctive mark on the tool’s design and how it should be used in practice. Parent involvement has centred the importance of parent well-being, of parent/professional relationship building, and the sharing of power and responsibility.
