Presenting a novel family-centred method for studying the everyday interactions of children at risk of DLD

To ensure optimal outcomes for children at risk of DLD, it is vital that speech and language therapists (SLTs) collaborate with families (Klatte et al., 2020). Studies have shown that Parent-Child Interaction (PCI) interventions are most acceptable to families when SLTs incorporate the family’s daily routines and activities (O’Toole et al, 2021). Learning directly from families about their parenting practices and activities also ensures that SLTs are culturally responsive, which is especially important when working with families from a culture or background that is different to their own (Peredo, 2016). There is therefore a need for family-centred, culturally responsive methods for gathering information about families’ interactions during their everyday routines. However, in a recent scoping review, we found that to date, research on interactions across different activities has often involved structured, researcher-led tasks, and has focussed on limited demographic groups (Holme et al., 2022).

The aim of this presentation is to describe a holistic, qualitative method for gathering data about everyday interactions and activities from a diverse group of families.

Twelve families with a typically developing child aged 2 ½ to 4 years old participated in the study. Participants were purposively sampled to include children from a diverse range of socioeconomic backgrounds, cultural groups and family structures. Over the course of one day, parents recorded their child’s interactions using an automated recording device, and took photographs of their activities. The researcher then met with the parent for an interview using arts-based methods. The output of the interviews was a timeline of the family’s day, a mind map of the people and places in the child’s life, and the parent’s reflections on their interactions and activities.

Analysis of results is ongoing. Automated recording analyses were annotated with photographs and activities as described by parents. Data were analysed individually for each family, with examples illustrating wide variation in the activities that families undertook, and when and where interactions occurred. Interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Initial results show that there is huge variation in interactions associated with the same activity, both between families and within families on the same day. Parents’ reflections on their days illustrated how the reality of family life, the time of day and the way their child was feeling all contributed to the context of an activity, and how their interactions varied at different times of day.

The benefits and challenges of this method will be discussed, including the potential for gathering rich data, and difficulties in accurately identifying activities. We will explore how the findings of this research might be used by SLTs when planning a PCI intervention. This project gathered preliminary data from typically developing children, therefore we will also consider how the findings may be similar or different for families of a child at risk of DLD.