Parent Perspectives on their Child’s Bilingual Language Development and Speech Language Intervention Services

Speech and language treatment of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) families is variable in quality due to lack of specific recommendations on best practices. Research on CLD parents of children with speech language disorders is limited. Understanding parent perspectives can improve intervention services for these families. Through the use of qualitative guided interviews and thematic analysis, this study aimed to determine a relationship between parent expectations and beliefs for bilingual language development and speech language intervention services, their involvement in those two domains, and their perspectives on outcomes and intervention processes. Participants were four bilingual mothers of children aged 0-48 months who were receiving speech language intervention in-home, in clinics, or in schools. All parents held positive beliefs about bilingualism. Parents stated personal factors as the main barrier to participating in intervention. Parents reported general satisfaction with intervention outcomes, but dissatisfaction with bilingual support from their monolingual or school speech language pathologists (SLPs). One theme was identified for parent expectations: Maintaining traditions and connections. Two themes were identified for parent involvement: Home language and Personal. Two themes were identified for parent perspectives: Communication/cohesion and Provider-family disconnect. Parents provided suggestions for how SLPs could better support their children’s bilingual language development. Limitations include small sample size, homogeneity of sample, intervention settings, recruitment procedures. This research has implications for improving clinical practice for SLPs treating CLD families.

Author

• Le, Jacqueline

Language

• English

Keyword

• early intervention
• language intervention
• bilingual
• parent perspectives
• cultural linguistic diversity

Date created

• 2024

Type of Work

• Master's Thesis

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Speech-Language Pathology

Degree

• M.A.

Advisor

• Core, Cynthia

Committee Member(s)

• Kumar, Jodi
• Jocelyn, Jessica

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/kw52j8954