An Investigation of the Counseling Strategies Used by Pediatric Audiologists from the Perspective of Parents of Children Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Student: Morgan Faldowski
Major: Communication Sciences and Disorders
Minor: Education
Advisors: Donald M. Goldberg, Cara Hammond
This study investigated the perspectives of parents of children who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing on the counseling they received from their pediatric audiologist.  Questions were asked to assess parents’ perspectives of their receiving informational and personal adjustment counseling at the milestones of hearing loss diagnosis, hearing aid dispensing, and enrollment in early intervention.  The researcher distributed an electronic survey to the target population, primarily through recruitment messaging to parent support groups.  The first conclusion was that, overall, parents were satisfied with the informational and personal adjustment counseling provided to them at all three milestones.  The second conclusion of this study was that children were diagnosed and fit with hearing sensory technology early.  The majority of parents reported that their children were diagnosed by 3 months of age and fit with hearing sensory technology by 6 months of age. The third conclusion was that, despite means indicating parent satisfaction with the counseling provided, open-ended responses indicated specific areas in which parents continued to want more support.  These areas included choosing the specific hearing sensory technology option and making a decision about the type of early intervention in which to enroll.

Morgan will be online to field comments on May 8:
Noon-2pm EDT (PST 9am-11am, Africa/Europe: early evening)

Posted in I.S. Symposium, Independent Study on April 30, 2020.

---