Parental Involvement in Speech Activities of Speech Delayed Child at Home

Speech activities in speech therapy are frequently applied of early interventions to children with speech delay. The speech therapy was conducted to assist the children with speech difficulties. However, these speech activities need to be implemented regularly at home as a reinforcement to the speech therapies attended at clinics. Therefore, this paper discusses the factors of parental involvement in implementing speech activities at home. In this study, two parents who each has a child with speech delay, were interviewed using semi-structured questions. Triangulation was utilized using two types of data collection technique: interview and document analysis. The interview transcripts and parents’ personal notes throughout the speech therapy session with speech therapists were analyzed using The ATLAS.ti (version 4.1). Five factors were found on parental involvement in their children’s speech activities at home: a) perceived language development, (b) emotion, (c) knowledge, (d) children’s performance and (e) support. These factors motivate the parents to continue conducting speech activities relentlessly at home. Furthermore, the training and guidance from speech therapist on how to conduct speech activities successfully at home, would reinforce the children’s speech development and eventually overcome the speech difficulties faced by the children.