Graduation Term

2015

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Department of Special Education

Committee Chair

Christy M. Borders

Committee Member

Julia B. Stoner

Abstract

Many children with disabilities (i.e., deaf/hard of hearing; DHH) experience language delays (Sarant, Holt, Dowell, Rickards, & Blamey, 2009). Parents of children who are DHH can mediate their children's language delays with responsive communication (Guralnick, 2011; Pressman, Pipp-Siegel, & Yoshinaga-Itano, 1999; Warren & Brady, 2007). This study is a partial replication of the Parent-Implemented Communication Strategies (PiCS) Project (Meadan, Angell, Stoner, & Daczewitz, 2014). The PiCS project was implemented with 11 parents and their children with various disabilities (e.g., Down syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder). These parents were trained and coached to use naturalistic teaching strategies (i.e., environmental arrangement, modeling, mand-model, and time delay) with fidelity and parents reported positively regarding social validity. In the current study, one parent and his child who is DHH participated. A single-case design across teaching strategies was used to evaluate the functional relation between the PiCS protocols and the parent's use of naturalistic teaching strategies.

Parents of children with low-incidence disabilities (i.e., DHH) may experience difficulty locating services within their region (Jackson, Traub, & Turnbull; Proctor, Niemeyer, & Compton, 2005). Offering services through distance technologies (i.e., videoconferencing, cloud-based file sharing). Earlier implementation of the PiCS project included coaching through videoconferencing (i.e., SkypeTM) and file sharing (DropboxTM) to transmit videos the parents took. The current study delivered training and coaching via SkypeTM and used CamtasiaTM to record video from the screen.

The dependent variables were the parent's quality and frequency of use of teaching strategies. The video data were coded using an event-recording system and displayed visually in a single-case multiple-baseline design across strategies for analysis. Intervention effect was evaluated through adjacent condition analysis and Tau-U non-overlapping data analysis (Parker, Vannest, Davis, & Sauber, 2011). The secondary outcome of child language and communication was evaluated using observational data, the MacArthur Bates Communication Developmental Inventories (CDI; Fenson, Dale, Reznick, Pethick, & Reilly, 1993), and the Cottage Acquisition Scales for Listening, Language, and Speech (Wilkes, 1999). Social validity was evaluated through pre- and postintervention surveys and interviews. The parent's interview responses were analyzed with qualitative analysis.

The outcomes of this study include the effectiveness of the PiCS intervention protocols and the feasibility of training and coaching using distance technologies. The results of analysis show that the parent learned to implement the teaching strategies with fidelity and that the goals, procedures, and outcomes of the PiCS intervention are acceptable. Recommendations for future research and for practitioners are discussed.

Access Type

Dissertation-Open Access

DOI

http://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2015.Daczewitz.M

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