Communication Approaches Used by Parents for Effective Interaction Among Their Deaf Children

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the communication approaches used by parents whose children were diagnosed with hearing impairment, and how these approaches can lead to effective interaction between them and their children. The study was conducted in two public schools that were offering Special Education (SPED) programs namely Talavera Central Elementary School, Talavera Nueva Ecija, and San Jose West Central School, San Jose City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. Purposive sampling was used to select the respondents of the study which were the parents of deaf children in the two public schools. All of the parents were asked if they willing to be part of the study. A total of 20 respondents were considered. Interview schedule type of instrument was used to gather the needed data. Results showed that the age of the respondents ranged from 20-59 years old, and 65 percent of them are mothers. Half of 50 percent of them were high school graduates, and almost all had blue-collar jobs with a monthly income of Php 5,000. The meeting was their preferred source of information in which 95 percent of the information that they have received was all about using sign language. They used this information to interact with their child and shared it with other members of the family and this information made them more knowledgeable about the preferred language of their child. They only have a moderate level of knowledge in using the manual approach and the most used was sign language. In terms of the new technology approach, 60 percent were using hearing aids. The problem encountered was insufficient knowledge in the manual approach and they were irritated in using the hearing aid. The other alternative approach used by parents were using pen and paper, home signs, and mobile phones through text messages and messenger applications as modes of communication. There was a significant relationship between knowledge level on sign language and usage level on new technology to effective interaction. There was also a significant relationship between the problem encountered in using a manual approach to the effective interaction between parents and their deaf children, while there was a highly significant relationship between the alternative approach and effective interaction, aside from that all variables didn’t affect the effective interaction between parents and their deaf children.