Parent Participation Sessions

Lillian Henderson, MSP, CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVTKathryn Wilson, M.A., CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVTCarolina Summer InstituteJune 15 2011

Principles of LSLS Auditory-Verbal Practice…

1. Promote early diagnosis of hearing loss in newborns, infants, toddlers, and young children, followed by immediate audiological management and Auditory Verbal therapy. 2. Recommend immediate assessment and use of

appropriate, state-of-the-art hearing technology to obtain maximum benefits of auditory stimulation.

3. Guide and coach parents to help their child use hearing as the primary sensory modality in developing listening and spoken language.

4. Guide and coach parents¹ to become the primary facilitators of their child's listening and spoken language development through active consistent participation in individualized Auditory-Verbal therapy.

Principles of LSLS Auditory-Verbal Practice…

5. Guide and coach parents¹ to create environments that support listening for the acquisition of spoken language throughout the child's daily activities.

6. Guide and coach parents¹ to help their child integrate listening and spoken language into all aspects of the child's life.

7. Guide and coach parents¹ to use natural developmental patterns of audition, speech, language, cognition, and communication.

Principles of LSLS Auditory-Verbal Practice…

8. Guide and coach parents¹ to help their child self-monitor spoken language through listening.

9. Administer ongoing formal and informal diagnostic assessments to develop individualized Auditory-Verbal treatment plans, to monitor progress and to evaluate the effectiveness of the plans for the child and family.

10. Promote education in regular schools with peers who have typical hearing and with appropriate services from early childhood onwards.

Guiding and Coaching Parents makes sense….

Think about the 2 year old and the hours that we as professionals have vs. parents 1 hour of therapy x 48

weeks a year = 48 hours 11 waking hours per day

x 7 days a week = 77 hours x 52 weeks a year = 4, 015 hours

Guiding and Coaching Parents makes sense….

Think about the 9 year old who has the language of the typical 4 year old. Parent sessions are not typically done

in public school settings…a MUST for children with educationally significant language delays.

In an Auditory-Verbal approach

Parents actively participate in ALL sessions.

The parent is the primary student during therapy sessions.

The parent is the primary teacher in day-to-day life

Parent participation and parent involvement in all aspects of the child’s habilitation

Parent Participation Sessions

Planning the Parent Participation Session

Areas typically covered:

Communication

Auditory Learning/Audiological Management

Language Development

Speech Development

Development of Inner Discipline/Behavior Management

Cognition/Pre-Academic skills/Pre-Literacy

Planning the Parent Participation Session: Considerations

How many goals are typically covered in a session?

Which comes first…Selection of goal or selection of activity?

Selection of strategies…

Skill-based or Theme-based

Child’s interests, learning style, and age

Including others (siblings, extended family) when appropriate

Setting

Format for a Parent Participation Session

1. Review---Sessions begin with asking parent(s)

specific questions about child’s progress and quality and quantity of home carry-over since the last session.

2. Goal 1 & Activity State the goal to the parent

- be brief- use parent friendly language- refer to the source of the goal - tell why this goal is important

3. Goal 1—(continued) Model the strategies you want the parent to learn. State the strategies that you want the parent to practice.

4. Guided PracticeTherapist takes two or three turns, then turns the activity over to the parentTherapist takes a turn, parent takes a turn, therapist takes another turn, parent Therapist uses target strategies in a play activity one day, parent does it the next---Give feedback- find something positive and “shape” the behavior from there

5. Independent PracticeParent practices strategies until he/she is comfortable without promptingEncourage positive self-evaluation

6. Repeat #2-3-5 for each goal and activity.

7. Parent Information Session

8. Closure (2-3 mins.)If the parent has not yet recorded the goals and strategies, now is the time to do this.

Let’s think of some ways we can encourage the parent to record the information in writing.

9. Have the parent tell you what he will be working on this week.

“Why don’t you tell me what you’ll be working on this week so I can check to make sure I’ve made myself clear.”

“I want to check to make sure I’ve stated our goals clearly. Tell me your understanding of what you will work on this week with Julie.”

Parent Information Sessions

Last five minutes of weekly sessions (child plays independently)

At a separate time from weekly session (child is not with parent)

Use Parent Information Session Topics handout to insure all necessary info is covered

Use handouts, videos, audios, books, other parents, websites as resources

Parent Curriculum

Communication Options/The Auditory-Verbal Approach Communication Audiological Management/Hearing Aids/Cochlear

Implants Behavior Management/Development of Inner

Discipline/Effective Parenting Speech Development Language Development Speech Development Auditory Development Literacy Child Development Refer to handout for complete outline

Effective Parent Coaching and Guidance requires….

Expertise in the Auditory-Verbal approach

Skills in teaching parentsQuestion: “Am I skilled in teaching adults?”Areas where we need more training:

Providing clear informationCoachingProviding specific feedback

Open to feedback from and dialogue with parents

Adult Learners

What do you know about adult learning from your own experience?

Think of something you learned as an adult that you are good at - how did you become competent?

Think of an unsuccessful learning experience - what went wrong?

What do we know about the characteristics of adult learners from the literature?

Characteristics of Adult Learners

Seek education that relates or applies directly to their perceived needs

Goal oriented Learning must make sense

Self-directed

Learn best in a democratic, participatory and collaborative environment.

“Adults respond most favorably when they are actively involved in designing and implementing their own learning.”-Lowy, 1983

Characteristics of Adult Learning

Adults vary in their confidence level, intellectual ability, education level, personality, and cognitive learning style.

They learn at different rates and in different ways: Right brain vs. Left brain (Rose and Nicholls,

1997)

Visual vs. Auditory vs. Tactile/Kinesthetic (Brandler and Grider)

Reflective, Creative, Practical and Conceptual Thinkers

Application to A-V Practice

Parents need… Coaching and guidance that is relevant and clear to help them

meet their goals

Working knowledge of the stages in listening, language, speech and cognition and strategies and techniques that promote the auditory learning of the child’s goals

Practice and repetition

Reinforcement

Intervention that fits their learning style

Active, consistent participation

To be shown respect. Practitioners are open to feedback from parents

Family-Professional Partnerships

As adults who are goal oriented and seek education that relates or applies directly to their perceived needs

parents will work toward weekly goals when they are CLEAR about what those goals are.

As adults who are self-directed parents will use hierarchies of normal development to select

goals WITH the therapist. parents will use effective strategies,

Family-Professional Partnerships

As adults who learn best in a democratic, participatory and collaborative environment

parents feel their abilities are valued when the professional provides feedback by pointing out a parent’s strength and then shaping the behavior from that point.

parents feel empowered to disagree with the professional.

parents will ask questions when they don’t understand.

Family-Professional Partnerships

As adults who vary in their confidence level, intellectual ability, education level, personality, and cognitive learning style parents will grow in their capacity to be the child’s primary teacher

if the professional does not feel that he/she must always be the one with the answers.

parents are guided to discover answers to questions.

If the professional asks questions to highlight the parents’ knowledge.

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Obstacles to Successful Parent Participation Sessions

Poor planning and organization Parents who are not given ample

opportunity to practice during the session will find it difficult/impossible to integrate new strategies and techniques during daily activities

Unclear statements from the teacher about what parents need to do

Activities and materials are not age/stage appropriate

Emphasis on testing vs. teaching

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Obstacles to Successful Parent Participation Sessions

Too much time devoted to counseling/talking with parent—not enough time spent on weekly goals

Parents who chose this approach because someone “convinced” them A-V was right for their child may resist participating in sessions or home follow through

No occupying toys Interruptions—deliveries, neighbors, phone,

siblings Child is not ready for the session when

therapist arrives

Application Activity

Scenario #1

You like to begin each session with a quick review of how the parent has been practicing current goals, strategies and techniques at home. The parent seems uncomfortable trying to respond to your inquiry and indicates that finding time to carry-over ideas from the therapy sessions is a real challenge. You are concerned about this and the child’s slow rate of progress. What do you do?

Scenario #2

You have been seeing 2- year old David and his mother each week for the past six weeks. In the beginning, the parent and child arrived on time for the session at the clinic where you work. Over time, the parent began arriving a few minutes late and now she routinely arrives 10-20 minutes late each week. How will you handle this?

Scenario #3

You have just started your therapy session with little Katie and her mom and Katie has a temper tantrum. The mom states that she thinks Katie will do better today if she were to stay in the waiting room. You….

Scenario #4

You have just demonstrated a strategy for the parent to try and ask her to give it a try. She responds that she is not comfortable doing this. You respond by…