Arabic-speaking Children Research Articles

Phonological development in school-aged Kuwaiti Arabic children with Down syndrome: A pilot study

BackgroundStudies on atypical phonological development are very limited for Arabic, and to date no studies on Arabic have investigated the development of phonology in children with conditions such as Down Syndrome. Arabic, like other Semitic languages, is rich in consonants and consonantal variation. However, it differs greatly from region to region, and so reports on individual dialects or regional dialects are necessary. Kuwaiti Arabic, the focus of the present paper, is similar to other dialects in the Gulf region. AimThis is a preliminary study to examine the phonological development of school-aged Kuwaiti Arabic–speaking children with Down Syndrome in order to start to address the research gap noted above. Methods & ProceduresSix Kuwaiti Arabic-speaking children were recruited for this pilot study from integrated public schools where children with disabilities and typically developing children are enrolled in the State of Kuwait: three male and three female students, age range of 5;10–12;3 years. All participants had the same single word speech test of 100 words. The first author, a native speaker of Kuwaiti Arabic, audio-recorded and phonetically transcribed the sample with the help of two speech-language pathologists from Kuwait. Reliability was confirmed by the first author and another expert rater. Both match and mismatch analyses were performed and compared to existing literature. Outcomes & ResultsOverall consonant accuracy across participants was 50%, with a variety of matches across consonant categories. However, the participants also exhibited a wide range of mismatches across positions in words and phonological features (place, manner, and laryngeal features). Place substitutions were the most frequent. Some sounds exhibited double (place and manner) mismatches. The most common word structure mismatch was consonant cluster reduction (no matches for word-initial clusters). Mismatch patterns resembled both those of normally developing Kuwaiti children and those of English speakers with Down Syndrome in certain ways. Conclusions & ImplicationsThis pilot study provides preliminary information for clinicians regarding the speech or children with Down Syndrome (DS), not only in Kuwait but also in the Gulf region where there are similarities to Kuwaiti Arabic.

Psycho-communicative interruptions in hearing-impaired Egyptian Arabic-speaking children

BackgroundHearing is critical for normal development and acquisition of language and speech, and hearing impairment exists when there is diminished sensitivity to the sounds normally heard. Several studies have suggested that one out of every two to three school-aged children with any degree of hearing impairment have academic, social, and behavioral difficulties. Purpose: to compare the degree of hearing loss regarding the psychological profile: behavioral, social, emotional, and cognition of hearing-impaired children, and then correlate this profile to language scale.ResultsHearing-impaired children showed more language, emotion, and behavioral difficulties and spent less time communicating than children with normal hearing. The lowest academic, social, and behavioral scores were in severe hearing-impaired group than in the other two groups.ConclusionEven slight/mild hearing impairment can result in negative consequences in the psychological profile, behavioral, social, and emotional, and there is significant relationship between delayed language, anxiety, and child behavior problems. Without appropriate interventions, these children are at risk of developing mental health disorders.

Transcultural and familial factors in bilingualism and language transmission: A qualitative study of maternal representations of French-Maghrebi Arabic bilingual children.

This qualitative exploratory study examined transcultural and familial factors involved in bilingualism and minority language transmission among French and Arabic-speaking children. Participants included 30 children aged 4 to 6 years, born in France, and their bilingual French-Maghrebi Arabic-speaking parents. Children's bilingual language profiles were assessed with the ELAL Scale for Maghrebi Arabic (minority language) and the Neel Scale for French (majority language). Mothers participated in qualitative interviews about cultural and language practices and representations. Interview contents were compared with the children's language profiles. Results indicated that parents closely associated the transmission of the Arabic language with their cultural heritage transmission. The parents of fluent bilinguals had a strong desire to transmit the minority language. Mothers of minority language dominant bilingual children reported little perception of change in their lives since migration. Half of the mothers of majority language dominant bilingual children reported relationship or emotional difficulties with their children. Four minority language transmission types were identified: direct parent-child transmission; indirect transmission through private classes; indirect transmission through visits to family in the parents' native countries; and alternative transmission by another family member. Direct parent-child transmission was most frequent among the fluent bilinguals. Families' processes of hybridity were related to language transmission and bilingual development of children. Parental cultural affiliations to native country were related to minority language transmission. Perception of change since migration and affiliation to host country may also play a role in harmonious bilingual development. Moreover, the quality of family relationships can affect minority language transmission.

Descriptive analysis of the development of the Arabic speech sounds among typically developing colloquial Egyptian Arabic-speaking children

BackgroundLiterature only mentioned a few kinds of research that did study the development of the speech sounds of the Colloquial Egyptian Arabic dialect. Moreover, these studies focused on describing the phonological processes that children undergo in early childhood rather than describing the exact time of acquisition of these sounds. Besides, no study involved a statistically enough sample size of children across the different age ranges. Thus, this study aimed to explore the development of the Arabic phonemes among 360 typically developing Egyptian children who speak the CEA dialect, between the ages of 1.6 years and ≤ 7.4 years.ResultsThe results of a 93-picture-naming test of children were analyzed. A phoneme is considered acquired when 90% of the children could properly utter the target phoneme in all word positions and mastered when 100% of children could correctly pronounce the target phoneme in all word positions. The results revealed that by the age of 1.6–2.0 years, the 6 long vowels of the CEA dialect, besides the /h/,/ʔ/, /b/, /w/, /j/, /m/, and /n/ were mastered. /t/ and /d/ sounds were mastered by the age of 2.6 years followed by /l/ sound by the age of 3.0 years. Then, /ħ/, /ʕ/ sounds were mastered followed by /k/, and /g/ at the age of 3.0 and 3.6 years, respectively. At the age of 5.0 years, /f/ sound was mastered, then /x / and /ʃ/ sounds were mastered by the age of 4.6 years, followed by /s/, /sˁ/, /tˁ/, /dˁ/. By the age of 5.6 and 6.0 years, /ɣ/, /r/, and /z/ were mastered. The /q/, /θ/, /ð/, and /ðˁ/ sounds were mastered by the age of 6.0–6.6 years. This study revealed that fricative sounds developed before the stop sounds and front stops before the back stops, and emphatic Arabic sounds were the last to develop at the school age (> 5 years).ConclusionsThis study presented a chart of the development of the Arabic phonemes of the CEA to be used as a guide to decide upon the correct trimming to start articulatory therapy for children with articulation and/or phonological disorders.

Empowering refugee children with the use of Persona Doll

This study focuses on Arabic-speaking children with a refugee or/and migrant background and its purpose is to explore if and how the Persona Doll method can influence this target group in terms of their attitudes and learning. The present study is a qualitative research in the form of action research. On the basis of data collection through participant observation, interviews and identity texts, a Persona Doll was designed that mirrored specific characteristics of the participant children and shared stories that reflected their personal experiences. The designed sessions with the Persona Doll were based on Brown’s methodology and were implemented in a non-formal education setting. In this paper, a detailed description is provided and after content analysis, the major findings are presented. Specifically, it was demonstrated that the Persona Doll generated positive attitudes, contributed to language education and empowered bicultural identity.

The Development of a Paediatric Phoneme Discrimination Test for Arabic Phonemic Contrasts.

Objective: The aim of this project was to develop the Arabic CAPT (A-CAPT), a Standard Arabic version of the CHEAR auditory perception test (CAPT) that assesses consonant perception ability in children. Method: This closed-set test was evaluated with normal-hearing children aged 5 to 11 years. Development and validation of the speech materials were accomplished in two experimental phases. Twenty-six children participated in phase I, where the test materials were piloted to ensure that the selected words were age appropriate and that the form of Arabic used was familiar to the children. Sixteen children participated in phase II where test–retest reliability, age effects, and critical differences were measured. A computerized implementation was used to present stimuli and collect responses. Children selected one of four response options displayed on a screen for each trial. Results: Two lists of 32 words were developed with two levels of difficulty, easy and hard. Assessment of test–retest reliability for the final version of the lists showed a strong agreement. A within-subject ANOVA showed no significant difference between test and retest sessions. Performance improved with increasing age. Critical difference values were similar to the British English version of the CAPT. Conclusions: The A-CAPT is an appropriate speech perception test for assessing Arabic-speaking children as young as 5 years old. This test can reliably assess consonant perception ability and monitor changes over time or after an intervention.

Validation of an Arabic listening inventory for the Education of Deaf Children in Egypt

ABSTRACT The academic achievement of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students depends on the interaction of many factors, including student and family characteristics and experiences inside and outside school. Several questionnaires have previously been designed for evaluating the listening skills of deaf English-speaking children in school environments. This study's objective was to validate an Arabic questionnaire to evaluate deaf Egyptian Arabic-speaking children's listening skills. The Arabic questionnaire for listening skills in the school environment was adapted by translating items from an English questionnaire into Arabic. The questionnaire was administered to 70 Arabic-speaking Egyptian children 7–12 years, including 30 children with typical hearing, 30 deaf children fitted with hearing aids, and ten deaf children with cochlear implants. Typical hearing children demonstrated the best performance with a non-significant difference between children who use cochlear implants and hearing aids. The degree of hearing loss and language therapy duration were the best predictors of deaf Egyptian children's listening skills. The adapted Arabic questionnaire is a valid and reliable functional assessment tool that can be used to evaluate and monitor Arabic-speaking deaf students’ listening skills in the school environment.

Effects of Morphological Awareness Training on Reading Accuracy in Children with Dyslexia and its Transfer Effect on Phonological Awareness

Abstract We examined the effects of a morphological awareness (MA) training program on the enhancement of word and pseudo-word reading and phonological awareness in Arabic-speaking children with dyslexia. We compared two groups of children with dyslexia from Grade 3, an experimental group (n = 12; mean age = 112.4 months) with a control group (n = 13; mean age = 111.61 months). The training program focused on morphological analysis, derivational morphology and inflexional morphology. Results revealed that the experimental group outperformed controls on all post-training measures for MA, reading words and pseudo-words as well as phonological awareness. Also, the post-training measures were better achieved in the experimental group than pre-training ones, which confirm the efficacy of the morphological training program. We discuss these findings in light of the relationship between morphological awareness and word reading and phonological awareness, and the Arabic orthographic features as a morphological based language.

DEVELOPMENT OF LEXICAL SEMANTIC AMONG PRESCHOOL EGYPTIAN ARABIC-SPEAKING CHILDREN

Background: Lexical-semantic development for preschool children has several applications in research design, assessment, and intervention that were very difficult to obtain before. In English and most Indo-European languages, there is a long tradition of examining aspects of child language by computing different developmental indices from spontaneous language samples and through applying different language tests. However, for the Arabic language, these aspects are lacking in this valuable area of research. Bridging this gap, this work provided the first comprehensive study of the Arabic language lexical-semantic development among preschool Egyptian Arabic speaking children.Aim of the work: to provide a descriptive profile of the lexical-semantic development among the preschool Egyptian Arabic-speaking children.Subjects and methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on 120 typically developed Egyptian Arabic-speaking children. Children were randomly selected by inclusion and exclusion criteria in the age range between 2-4 years. Children were assessed by the lexical-semantic subtest of the standardized Egyptian Arabic Semantic Test (EAST). Children’s total score and scores of the receptive and expressive aspects of the lexical-semantic subtest of EAST were calculated and compared to determine the development of the lexical-semantic among the 4 age-groups.Results: A statistically significant difference was found between lexical-semantic growth among the 4 age groups. Lexical semantic growth is positively correlated to the chronological age of the participated children.Conclusion: The lexical-semantic develops as early as the age of 2 years. Noun classes and verbs started to be identified by children at the age of 2 years. As children grow; noun vocabulary increases both expressively and receptively. Adjectives started to be acquired at age of 2.6 to 3 years and were mostly identified by the age of 3 to 3.6 years.

Expressive Verb Morphology Deficits in Arabic-Speaking Children With Developmental Language Disorder.

Purpose This study investigated the production of tense and subject-verb agreement in Palestinian Arabic-speaking children with developmental language disorder (DLD) in comparison to their typically developing (TD) peers in terms of (a) performance accuracy and (b) error patterns. Method Participants were 14 children with DLD aged 4;0-7;10 and 32 TD children aged 3;0-8;0 matched on nonverbal abilities. Children were asked to complete a picture-based verb elicitation task. The task was designed to measure the production accuracy of tense and subject-verb agreement inflections in Arabic. Results The DLD group scored significantly lower than the TD group on the verb elicitation task. The DLD group was significantly less accurate than the TD group in marking tense, specifically present tense. They were also less accurate in marking agreement in general, with specific difficulty in using feminine verb forms. The DLD and TD groups differed in their tense error patterns, but not in agreement error patterns. Conclusions The acquisition of verb morphology in Palestinian Arabic-speaking children with DLD appears to be delayed and possibly different from their TD peers. The DLD group found the production of marked verb forms more challenging than less marked ones. These results are discussed in light of the structural characteristics of Arabic. Future studies would need to include larger sample sizes; investigate other aspects of verb morphology, including both production and comprehension; include other language domains; and consider longitudinal designs to provide more in-depth knowledge of Arabic language acquisition.

Development of a test for assessment of the lipreading ability for children in the Arabic-speaking countries

BackgroundLipreading is considered an important skill that varies considerably among normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) children. It is well known that normal-hearing children use audition as the primary sensory modality for speech perception, whereas HI children use lipreading cues as the primary sensory modality for speech perception. Moreover, speech perception is a multisensory process that involves attention to auditory signals as well as visual articulatory movements, and the integration of auditory and visual signals occurs naturally and automatically in normal individuals of all ages. Most researches proved that lipreading is a natural and important skill needed for language acquisition in HI children. Lipreading also helps HI children to perceive speech, acquire spoken language, and acquire phonology. In the Arabic language, tools are deficient for assessing the lipreading ability for HI children, so this study was conducted to develop a test suitable for assessing the lipreading ability of hearing-impaired children among Arabic-speaking countries. The constructed lipreading test was administered to 160 Arabic-speaking Egyptian children including 100 typically developing NH children and 60 HI children. Participants’ responses were statistically analyzed to assess the validity and reliability and to compare the lipreading ability between the NH and HI children. Ranks of percentiles were established to provide an estimate of the lipreading ability in children.ResultsStatistically significant differences were found between the normal-hearing and HI children as regards all subtotal and total scores of the Arabic lipreading test, with good validity and reliability of the test.ConclusionsThe Arabic lipreading test is a valid and reliable test that can be applied to assess the lipreading ability among Arabic-speaking children with HI.

Sound Symbolism In Color Modality:, The Case Of Arabic Speaking Children At Guiri Brothers Primary School- Algeria

Sound Symbolism In Color Modality:, The Case Of Arabic Speaking Children At Guiri Brothers Primary School- Algeria

Mental health among students with neurodevelopment disorders: case of dyslexic children and adolescents.

ABSTRACTSeveral research studies have been devoted to study the links between emotional disorders and learning disabilities. However, very minimal of this research has focused on dyslexic students.Objective:The objectives of this study were as follows: (1) to assess self-esteem, anxiety, and depression in dyslexic Arabic-speaking children and adolescents and (2) to describe psychiatric comorbidities in these subjects by comparing them to their non-dyslexic peers.Methods:In total, 205 students (56 dyslexics and 149 good readers), pursuing their education in ordinary schools in the Beni Mellal-Khenifra region of Morocco responded to Taylor’s Self-Assessment Scale of Anxiety, Beck’s Depression Questionnaire, and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI).Results:Overall, dyslexics were more anxious, more depressed, and had disturbed self-esteem compared to their non-dyslexic peers. The percentage of psychiatric comorbidity was higher in the dyslexic group.Conclusions:The results of this study highlight the need for a multidisciplinary approach that integrates emotional needs assessment into the rehabilitation care of dyslexic children and adolescents.

Emergence and Development of Wh-questions in Jordanian Arabic-speaking Children: A Longitudinal Study

The main objective of this paper is to examine the emergence and development of wh-questions in two Jordanian Arabic-speaking pre-school children. Specifically, it investigates (1) how these children interact with wh-questions; which questions they find easier and thus earlier to acquire and why, and finally (2) what symptoms one can identify as characteristics of the intra-stage development of such questions. The data of the study are a subset of a large body of a longitudinal audio-taped corpus collected by the principal author, who happened to be a psycholinguist and the children’s grandparent, on the basis of three-day, weekly sessions over a period of five years. The recordings were made in the family home environment during routine activities, mainly after dinner, and mostly in the presence of family members. The findings reveal the acquisition of wh-questions is a complex process that supports a general cognitive maturity model interpretation. The acquisition of wh-questions that ask about concrete objects/entities, that is mi:n ‘who’, we:n ‘where’ and ʔe:ʃ/ʃu: ‘what’ are produced and developed at an earlier stage than those questions which ask about abstract objects/entities, that is le:ʃ ‘why’, ke:f ‘how’, ɡadde:ʃ/kam ‘how many/much’ and wakte:ʃ/ʔe:mta ‘when’. However, the subjects do not find the questions within each of the two sets equally easy/difficult. Put differently, in the first category, mi:n ranked first on the easy/difficult scale while ʔe:ʃ/ʃu: ranked third. Moreover, the order of acquisition in the second category suggested that it is easier for Jordanian Arabic-speaking children to ask about reason (le:ʃ-why) than about time (wakte:ʃ-when) and that to ask about quantity (ɡadde:ʃ/kam-how many/much) is more difficult than to ask about manner (ke:f-how). The study argues that the emergence of wh-words does not mark but the onset of an accumulative process which includes a host of symptoms on the way to adult-like acquisition.

Grammatical number inflection in Arabic-speaking children and young adults with Down syndrome.

BackgroundIndividuals with Down syndrome (DS) have more difficulties with the structural aspects of language, including morphology (concatenation and non-concatenation) and syntax (word order and grammatical/concord rules), than with other language components (e.g. vocabulary, phonetics and pragmatics).ObjectivesThis study investigates the accuracy of grammatical number inflection produced by Jordanian Arabic-speaking children and young adults with DS. The work also examines the correlation between age and the correct production of singular, dual and plural numbers.MethodsThe study involved 60 monolingual Arabic children and young adults with DS, 30 males and 30 females, enrolled at the Nazik Al Hariri Welfare Centre for Special Education, Amman. The participants were divided into three groups: KG2 (7.1–12.5 years old), school (13.10–17.6) and vocational training (18.3–27.3). The participants’ data were collected from a picture elicitation task and free speech, and the answers were recorded using a smartphone. Tokens were classified into correctly used, incorrectly used or not recognised. Proficiency percentage in using the correct number in correlation with age was calculated adopting Jia’s (2003) composite score of proficiency. The one-way analysis of variance was used to trace the impact of age on the correct performance of number. Post hoc comparisons (guided by the Scheffe test) were calculated for the cumulative results of the scale as a whole to examine the difference in the arithmetic mean between the three groups.ResultsThe singular form was the most used by all age groups (83.3%), followed by the plural (27%); the most delayed was dual (10.3%). Intriguingly, the dual form is the most difficult plural pattern because it was the least frequently used pattern in everyday language. Results were in line with other research on morphological markers in individuals with DS (e.g. Penke, 2018). The cumulative results statistically prove the influence of age on the correct use of grammatical number, in favour of the older two groups (total F = 29.865, at the level of significance P = 0.000), with a higher arithmetic mean of all categories (AM: KG2 = 9.00, school = 15.10, VT = 16.25). Hence, sensitivity to the correct number option increases with age although children and young adults with DS do not reach adult-like performance. The non-recognition cases of the proper number category significantly mark language delay in participants with DS.ConclusionThe study concluded that inflection for grammatical number is evidently delayed in individuals with DS. Linguistic teaching and training of children with DS (involving families, caregivers and educators) should start from childhood and continue to adulthood to improve their use of dual and plural numbers.

Speech perception in deaf and hard of hearing Arabic-speaking children

The rate of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) people is relatively large in native Arabic speakers in Israel. However, Arabic assessment tools are scarce. The present study reports the procedure of developing two speech perception assessment tools, which are used for hearing loss diagnosis, hearing aids fitting, cochlear implant mapping, and evaluation of progress following rehabilitation intervention. Our closed set test “Arabic Picture Speech Pattern Contrast” (ArPiSPAC), and word perception open-set test, “Arabic AB” (ArAB), were administered to 34 children with moderate to profound sensorineural hearing loss, hearing aids users, aged between 4;5—8;11. In addition, the ArPiSPaC was administered to 38 hearing children, aged between 2;6-5;5 in order to obtain a developmental hierarchy. For DHH participants, the findings showed that vowel contrasts were better perceived than consonants, and articulation manner was better perceived than articulation place. The hearing participants' phonological perception hierarchy differed in some interesting features from that of the DHH children. The mean percent of phoneme perception by DHH was M = 60.53%, (SD = 23.87), and the mean percent of word perception was M = 18.5%, (SD = 15.68). Voicing and pharyngealization contrasts revealed the largest Pearson correlation for phoneme and word perception.

Developing a test battery for diagnosis of childhood apraxia of speech in Arabic speakers

BackgroundChildhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a speech sound disorder in which the precision and consistency of movements underlying speech are impaired in absence of neuromuscular deficits. It is important to differentiate between language disorders and CAS to avoid misdiagnosis. The objective of this study was to develop a test battery for CAS in order to identify its possible presence in Arabic-speaking children, thus allowing the planning of appropriate therapy programs. The constructed test battery for CAS was administered to 70 monolingual Arabic-speaking Egyptian children including 10 children with suspected CAS, 20 children with phonological disorders, and 40 typically developing children. Participants’ responses were statistically analyzed to assess the validity and reliability, and to evaluate sensitivity and specificity of the test battery.ResultsStatistically significant differences were found between the three groups as regard all subtotal and total scores of CAS test battery with good validity and reliability of the test.ConclusionsThe constructed test battery for diagnosis of CAS is a reliable, valid, and sensitive tool that can be used to detect the presence of CAS in Arabic-speaking children and differentiate between it and phonological disorders.

Narrative Language Markers of Arabic Language Development and Impairment.

Purpose We examined indices of narrative microstructure as metrics of language development and impairment in Arabic-speaking children. We examined their age sensitivity, correlations with standardized measures, and ability to differentiate children with average language and language impairment. Method We collected story narratives from 177 children (54.2% boys) between 3.08 and 10.92 years old (M = 6.25, SD = 1.67) divided into six age bands. Each child also received standardized measures of spoken language (Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary, Sentence Imitation, and Pseudoword Repetition). Several narrative indices of microstructure were examined in each age band. Children were divided into (suspected) developmental language disorder and typical language groups using the standardized test scores and compared on the narrative indicators. Sensitivity and specificity of the narrative indicators that showed group differences were calculated. Results The measures that showed age sensitivity included subject omission error rate, number of object clitics, correct use of subject-verb agreement, and mean length of utterance in words. The developmental language disorder group scored higher on subject omission errors (Cohen's d = 0.55) and lower on correct use of subject-verb agreement (Cohen's d = 0.48) than the typical language group. The threshold for impaired performance with the highest combination of specificity and sensitivity was 35th percentile. Conclusions Several indices of narrative microstructure appear to be valid metrics for documenting language development in children acquiring Gulf Arabic. Subject omission errors and correct use of subject-verb agreement differentiate children with typical and atypical levels of language development.

Cross-Cultural Differences in Strategies of Peer Persuasion of Hebrew-Speaking and Arabic-Speaking Children

Abstract The purpose of the current research was to examine strategies of persuasion used by Arabic-speaking and Hebrew-speaking boys and girls to determine the relative contributions of culture and gender in determining communication styles. Children were asked to write a letter to a male or female peer asking for a gender-stereotyped or a gender-neutral gift. Four meta-categories were identified: formality, self-focus, other-focus, and gift-focus. For each meta-category except gift-focus, there were significant main effects and interactions. Language group was significant for formality and other-focus but not for self-focus. Importantly, there were several interactions between participant gender, target gender, and gender-stereotypy of gift, but these did not interact with language group. The results were discussed in the context of children’s socialization to the ethos of musayara and dugri in Arabic-speaking and Hebrew-speaking culture.

63 A Needs Assessment of Syrian Refugee Families Regarding a Children & Youth Health Promotion Program in Arabic

Abstract Background Refugee families, particularly children and youth, are considered a vulnerable population. They face many health concerns, including barriers to accessing the healthcare system, which may stem from lack of familiarity with the health care system. Despite the great efforts Canada is putting forward to address newcomer needs, there are limited health promotion efforts directed at Arabic-speaking refugee families, particularly in the wake of the influx of Syrian families since 2015. In fact, there is a lack of well-structured, evidence-based, health promotion program, specifically focusing on Arabic-speaking refugee children and youth. Objectives Design/Methods We took a qualitative approach, in which semi-structured interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, translated, coded and analyzed using a qualitative framework technique. Six focus groups were conducted, in which a total of 25 Arabic-speaking refugee parents were interviewed by Arabic-speaking interviewers. Results Among the 25 participants, 18 reported that they were not aware of existing health promotion presentations in our local area. Moreover, none of the 7 participants who were aware of such presentations have ever attended any. The major reason reported is not being invited to attend. Additionally, of the 25 participants, 24 have expressed their desire of having a child and youth health promotion program in Arabic. Among the most requested topics to be presented include medication coverage and pharmacy access in Canada, first-aid management, dental care, interpretation services, healthy lifestyle, fever measurement and management, prevention of unintentional injuries, navigating the Canadian healthcare system and mental health. Moreover, several factors were described to facilitate the families’ attendance to the health promotion presentations. These include presenting about topics of relevance to the refugee families, having the presentations in Arabic, providing parking spaces, having someone to accompany the families’ children during the presentations, arranging the presentations over the weekend or after 5 pm during the weekdays and holding the presentations in a place close to where the families live. Conclusion Arabic-speaking refugee families describe strong interest in attending in-person health promotion sessions in Arabic, focusing on child and youth health, and outline diverse topics of interest.