AN EXPLORATION OF PARENTS’ PERSPECTIVES AND REASONS FOR PROVIDING ELECTRONIC DEVICES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN IN MACAO

ABSTRACT

LANGUAGE DELAY IS AN IMPORTANT ISSUE THAT AFFECTS THE EARLY COMMUNICATION AND LEARNING ABILITIES OF YOUNG CHILDREN. IN RECENT YEARS, THERE HAS BEEN A GREAT DEAL OF INTEREST IN THE FAMILY-CENTERED INTERVENTION MODEL, WHICH EMPHASIZES THE TEACHING OF RESPONSIVE INTERACTION STRATEGIES TO PARENTS IN ORDER TO OPTIMIZE THE FAMILY LANGUAGE ENVIRONMENT. THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY IS TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THIS MODEL OF INTERVENTION FOR CHILDREN WITH LANGUAGE DELAYS AND TO UNDERSTAND THE FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR LANGUAGE PROGRESS. THIS STUDY ADOPTED A MIXED METHODS RESEARCH DESIGN, WHICH COMBINED QUANTITATIVE EXPERIMENTS WITH QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWS TO ANALYZE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE INTERVENTION AND PARENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF THE FAMILY-CENTERED MODEL. THE STUDY WAS CONDUCTED WITH 10 CHILDREN WITH SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DELAYS AGED BETWEEN 2 AND 3 YEARS OLD. THE SUBJECTS WERE RANDOMLY DIVIDED INTO EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS, AND RECEIVED THE FAMILY-CENTERED ""RESPONSIVE INTERACTION"" TECHNIQUE AND THE CLINICIAN-DIRECTED APPROACH ""DIRECT INSTRUCTION"" RESPECTIVELY. THE 12-WEEK STUDY CONSISTED OF A PRE-TEST, AN INTERVENTION PERIOD AND A POST-TEST. THE QUANTITATIVE STUDY WAS CONDUCTED USING THE LONG VERSION OF THE MACAO CONTONESE LANGUAGE SCREENING SCALE FOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN (MACCLASS-P), TOGETHER WITH THE CHINESE CHILD DEVELOPMENT INVENTORY(CANTONESE VERSION) TO STANDARDIZE THE CHILDREN'S LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION AND EXPRESSION SKILLS. BOTH THE EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS RECEIVED WEEKLY 45-MINUTE INTERVENTIONS DURING THE INTERVENTION PERIOD, WITH THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP RECEIVING A FAMILY-CENTERED “RESPONSIVE INTERACTION” TECHNIQUE, WHERE THE THERAPIST TAUGHT THE PARENTS THE RELEVANT SKILLS AND PROVIDED THEM WITH OPPORTUNITIES FOR PRACTICE, AND THE CONTROL GROUP RECEIVING CLINICIAN-DIRECTED APPROACH ""DIRECT INSTRUCTION"". THE CONTROL GROUP RECEIVED THE CLINICIAN-DIRECTED APPROACH ""DIRECT INSTRUCTION"". THE QUALITATIVE STUDY INVOLVED SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS WITH THE PARENTS OF THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP TO INVESTIGATE THE EXPERIENCE OF USING THE TECHNIQUES AND THE CHANGES IN THEIR CHILDREN'S LANGUAGE. THE QUANTITATIVE RESULTS SHOWED THAT THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP MADE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE PROGRESS THAN THE CONTROL GROUP IN OVERALL LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION AND EXPRESSIVE SKILLS, BUT DID NOT ACHIEVE SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN GRAMMATICAL COMPREHENSION AND PRAGMATICS. THE QUALITATIVE DATA FURTHER REFLECTED THAT PARENTS GENERALLY RECOGNIZED THE USEFULNESS OF THE “RESPONSIVE INTERACTION” SKILLS IN FACILITATING CHILDREN'S PROGRESS FROM SINGLE WORDS TO COMPLETE SENTENCES. IN CONCLUSION, THIS STUDY DEMONSTRATED THAT THE FAMILY-CENTERED “RESPONSIVE INTERACTION” INTERVENTION MODEL WAS EFFECTIVE IN IMPROVING THE LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION AND EXPRESSION OF CHILDREN WITH LANGUAGE DELAYS, AND THAT PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT STRENGTHENED THE CHILDREN'S CATEGORIZATION AND MOTIVATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING. 語言發展遲緩是影響幼兒早期溝通與學習能力的重要議題，近年來，以家庭為中心的介入模式備受關注，強調透過教導家長「回應式互動」技巧（RESPONSIVE INTERACTION STRATEGIES）來優化家庭語言環境。本研究旨在探討此模式對語言遲緩幼兒的介入成效，並了解造成其語言能力進步的因素。 本研究採用混合方法研究設計（MIXED METHODS RESEARCH DESIGN），將量化實驗與質性訪談相結合，以分析介入效果及家長對以家庭為中心模式的看法。本次研究對象為十名年齡介乎2至3歲的語言遲緩幼兒。受試者隨機分為實驗組及控制組，分別接受以家庭為中心的「回應式互動」技巧和以治療師主導的「直接教學法」介入。共十二週的研究包含前測、介入期與後測三部分。  量化研究採用《澳門粵語學前語言篩查測驗》長版，並配合《漢語溝通發展量表（廣東話版）》對幼兒語言理解和表達能力作標準化測量。實驗組及控制組幼兒在介入期均接受每週45分鐘介入，其中實驗組接受以治療師為主導的「直接教學法」並結合以家庭為中心的「回應式互動」技巧介入，治療師在堂上教授家長相關技巧和給予實踐機會；而控制組則接受以治療師為主導的「直接教學法」。質性研究則針對實驗組家長進行半結構式訪談，探討技巧應用經驗與幼兒語言變化。 從量化結果顯示，實驗組在整體的語言理解和表達能力的進步幅度皆顯著優於控制組，惟語法理解和語用並未達至顯著差異。質性資料則進一步反映家長普遍認同技巧實用性，促進幼兒從單詞進階至完整句子表達。  綜合而言，本研究證實以家庭為中心的「回應式互動」介入模式能有效提升語言遲緩幼兒的語言理解和表達能力，且家長參與強化了幼兒在語言學習的類化與積極性。