Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jan;51(1):e70038.
doi: 10.1111/cch.70038.

'Parents Are the First Tutors of Their Child': Parents' Perception of Responsibility on Practicing Speech-Language Home Program During COVID-19 Lockdown

Yee Yan Wong  1 , Joo Siew Yap  1 , Shin Ying Chu  1 , Giuditta Smith  2 , Pui Juan Woi  3 , Siaw Chui Chai  4 , Lay Shi Ng  5 , Ling-Yi Lin  6 , Maria Garraffa  2
Affiliations

'Parents Are the First Tutors of Their Child': Parents' Perception of Responsibility on Practicing Speech-Language Home Program During COVID-19 Lockdown

Yee Yan Wong et al. Child Care Health Dev. 2025 Jan.

Abstract

Background and objectives: Some families faced difficulties accessing speech therapy in some areas of Malaysia and/or during the COVID-19 lockdown. Therefore, parent-mediated intervention could be one of the ways to solve this issue, as it has been proven to effectively improve communication skills among children with communication disorders. Hence, a Mandarin parental guidebook comprising a series of language stimulation activities was developed to explore the perception of parents of children with communication disorders, ranging from 3 to 6 years old, regarding the feasibility of (1) conducting speech-language home programs and (2) using a home-based parental guidebook as a tool to deliver a speech-language home program.

Design, setting and participants: Semistructured interviews were conducted with nine Malaysian parents of child (ren) with communication disorders, who fulfilled the inclusionary criteria. Parents had attempted the speech-language home program by using the guidebook prior to the interview. The participants were subjected to 45-min to 1-h interviews. The interviews were audio- or video-recorded for verbatim transcription. Thematic analysis was used for data interpretation.

Results: Four main themes were identified: (1) 'Golden Period': a guidebook to deliver speech-language home program, (2) perception of the speech-language home program among parents of children with communication disorders, (3) challenges faced by parents when practicing speech-language home program and (4) suggestions for improvements: parent's needs. The themes informed the perspective of parents towards the user experience of the parental guidebook, the feasibility of the speech-language home program and their recommendations. Overall, participants conveyed positive responses on the parental guidebook.

Conclusions: Malaysian parents face difficulties in accessing speech therapy because of limited numbers of SLTs, geographical barriers, financial constraints, availability of facilities and so forth. Findings could assist SLTs in adopting a family-centred approach in their service delivery, thus increasing the cost-effectiveness of their service delivery.

Keywords: communication disorders; early intervention; home program; parental guidebook.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Baxendale, J., and A. Hesketh. 2003. “Comparison of the Effectiveness of the Hanen Parent Programme and Traditional Clinic Therapy.” International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders 38, no. 4: 397–415. https://doi.org/10.1080/1368282031000121651.
    1. Braun, V., and V. Clarke. 2006. “Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology.” Qualitative Research in Psychology 3, no. 2: 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa.
    1. Buschmann, A., B. Jooss, A. Rupp, F. Feldhusen, J. Pietz, and H. Philippi. 2009. “Parent Based Language Intervention for 2‐Year‐Old Children With Specific Expressive Language Delay: A Randomised Controlled Trial.” Archives of Disease in Childhood 94, no. 2: 110–116. https://doi.org/10.1136/adc.2008.141572.
    1. Buschmann, A., B. Multhauf, M. Hasselhorn, and J. Pietz. 2015. “Long‐Term Effects of a Parent‐Based Language Intervention on Language Outcomes and Working Memory for Late‐Talking Toddlers.” Journal of Early Intervention 37, no. 3: 175–189. https://doi.org/10.1177/1053815115609384.
    1. Camden, C., R. Dostie, L. Heguy, et al. 2020. “Understanding Parental Concerns Related to Their Child's Development and Factors Influencing Their Decisions to Seek Help From Health Care Professionals: Results of a Qualitative Study.” Child: Care, Health and Development 46, no. 1: 9–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.12731.

LinkOut - more resources