Perspectives of Black American Caregivers of Young Children in Language Therapy

Abstract

Cultural factors can impact access to health services and educational opportunities, therefore impacting health and educational outcomes. This includes supports for children with disabilities and their families, including those with language difficulties. Therefore, it is unsurprising that there is an ongoing gap in the literature pertaining to the effectiveness of caregiver-implemented language interventions for distinct US cultural groups, including Black American (BA) families. I aim to initiate a long-term implementation research program to conduct research on caregiver support in BA families while utilizing stakeholder perspectives. To do that, BA primary caregivers were interviewed about their understanding of language development, their experiences with child language interventions, and their expectations regarding possible benefits of accessing child language intervention services. Afterwards, the caregivers were presented with previously developed education modules on Enhanced Milieu Teaching (EMT) strategies in an interactive shared book reading format. EMT is a widely-implemented child language intervention program, that was selected to assess feasibilities of key components of naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions (NDBIs). The caregivers were interviewed throughout the presentation of EMT strategies to provide their reactions to each of the four EMT/NDBI strategies. The goal of this study was to, via qualitative interview, better understand BA caregivers’ family and cultural values, their understanding of DLD, their expectations of child language therapy, and the feasibility and acceptability of EMT/NBDI intervention for themselves and other BA families. Findings indicated that participants remained optimistic about their child’s language and therapy despite having development- related concerns, and prior negative experiences with language therapy. The participants shared their understanding of key elements of language development, and an openness toward being a partner in their child’s language therapy, which is encouraging for future caregiver-implemented language interventions. Additionally, participants felt that EMT would have a positive effect on their child’s language and the training presentations were effective in teaching the strategies. Participants shared recommendations to improve EMT and the presentations for BA families, as well.