Parents/Carers of deaf children required for a pilot study on how to support the development of pragmatic and social communication skills among deaf children.
A PhD student at the University of Manchester is conducting the pilot study aims to explore the ability of parents/carers of deaf children to effectively and easily use a recently developed resource. “This resource aims to promote the ability of deaf children to understand language appropriately and use it well in social interactions with others (the pragmatic and social communication skills) by targeting their parents / carers. This study will last up to three months.
If you are the parent/carer of a deaf child and want to help your child to enhance their ability to understand language appropriately and use it well in social interactions with others and making friendship, we warmly invite you to participate in this research.
To take part in this research, you need you to:
- Be a parent of a deaf child aged 5-11 years attending a mainstream school
- Be a parent of a deaf child who uses English as the language of the home. The resource is provided in English and considers aspects of pragmatic language which occur in English
- Not have been previously involved in projects around deaf children’s pragmatic language development conducted at the University of Manchester.
If you meet these requirements, your participation in this research may help us find a way to help your child and other deaf children to engage in society more fully.
If you decide to take part, you will be asked to do the following:
- Fill in a pre-study questionnaire. You will be asked to provide some information about your child and how you usually support their ability to understand language appropriately and use it well during social interactions, as well as your knowledge about this area. The pre-study questionnaire will take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.
- Trial a resource for 8 weeks. We will provide you with instructions on how to use a resource and how you can create opportunities to enhance your child’s ability to understand language appropriately and use it well in social interactions in their daily life.
- Complete the reflective notes form. In week four, half-way through using the resource, you will be asked to provide some information about your experience of using the materials and activities within a resource. The reflective notes form will take you approximately ten minutes to complete.
- Fill in a post-study questionnaire (after you have finished using a resource). You will be asked to provide some information about your experience of using the resource in terms how you had used it, its benefits, any challenges you encountered while using it. The post-study questionnaire will take you approximately 30 minutes to complete. You will also be invited to attend an online interview about your experience of using the resource, which would last approximately 40 minutes.
Participants who complete all stages of the study will be offered a voucher to reward their effort and time.
If you have any enquiries about this research or wish to register your interest in taking part, please contact me for more information on: [email protected]”
Dr Ibtihal Sambah
PhD Student
University of Manchester
