Determination of family needs for supporting the language development of children with hearing loss

The aim of this study is to determine parent guidance and parent education needs for supporting the language development of children with hearing loss in early childhood. Participants of the study were families of children with hearing loss aged 0-8 years who used the oral communication approach. Data were collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with 15 families and applying questionnaires to 172 families. Concurrent transformative design was used in this study. Also, qualitative inductive analysis and quantitative descriptive analysis were used in the analysis of the data obtained. As a result of the analysis, four themes were reached: screening and diagnosis process, family needs for the child's language development, ways of meeting the family needs of the child for language development, and suggestions of families for meeting the needs. Findings that are prominent in family needs for language development of children with hearing loss; parent education and guidance, including information, guidance, education and psychological support in screening, diagnosis, hearing assistive technologies and early education practices. The main sources for meeting these needs of the families are the internet, other families of children with hearing loss, doctors and teachers who provide support educational services. It may be suggested that guidance services in early intervention practices and family-centered early education services should be improved and expanded in order to increase the family participation of children with hearing loss in terms of language development. Keywords: Parent education, Parent guidance, Family needs, Early intervention, Language development