Date of Graduation

5-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Communication Disorders (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders

Advisor/Mentor

Rachel Glade

Committee Member

Tracy Pate

Second Committee Member

Elizabeth Rosenzweig

Third Committee Member

Christine Holyfield

Keywords

Auditory skills hierarchy, Auditory Verbal Therapy, Hearing loss, Parent engagement, Speech-Language Pathology, Telepractice

Abstract

Parent engagement is a key component during early language development for all children, but particularly for a child with hearing loss. Through the application of technology-based models of service delivery such as telehealth, researchers have found an increase in parent-child engagement during auditory-verbal therapy (AVT) sessions due to the physical absence of the provider and parents becoming the primary language facilitators. However, current measures of parent-child interactions do not have a coding system to monitor facilitation of auditory skills. This present study will discuss the development of the Caregiver-Child Auditory Skills Tracking (CAST) Scale to track progress of caregiver implementation of the auditory skill hierarchy. Initial development included using the CAST scale for a pilot case study of parent interaction during 2 sessions (6 months) of auditory-based sessions via international telehealth. The participants were Spanish-speaking parents of a 2-year-old child with bilateral cochlear implants who reside in Mexico and received intervention from an Arkansas-based clinician. Parent interactions were qualitatively coded by graduate student clinicians using the CAST scale to rate implementation of auditory skill hierarchy stages. Data was coded twice (approximately 4 weeks apart) for both sessions on the auditory skills strategies data sheet developed by the researchers. The statistical analysis performed on the data collection was a repeated measures ANOVA. The results of the analysis found that there is a significant effect of time on both session conditions (rating one and rating two). Specifically, the rater’s auditory skills training had a statistically significant effect on auditory skills strategies data. Additionally, telehealth was observed to increase parent engagement in both sessions. These findings provide a guideline towards continued progression of the CAST scale and adds to research that supports telehealth as a viable option of speech-language pathology service delivery.

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