Parent Infant Programs (PIP) & Preschool Education of Children with Hearing Impairment

District Center for Rehabilitation for the Persons with Disabilities
Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, India

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a parent infant program (PIP) on academic performance and cooperativeness of children with hearing impairment attending preschool. Scores in academic performance and cooperativeness of 73 hearing impaired children attending preschool were obtained using two sets of questionnaires. Statistical analysis revealed hearing impaired children who attended a formal PIP showed better pre-school performance in academics and cooperativeness, as compared to their counterparts who did not attend.

Introduction

Advances in hearing screening technology make it possible to identify hearing-impaired infants at birth, enhancing the opportunity for early intervention. To provide services for families of hearing-impaired infants, the Parent Infant Program (PIP) was established. Enthusiasm for PIP emerged from the concept that children advance to the best of their abilities when their emerging speech, language and auditory skills are reinforced in a context of acceptance and respect, and importantly, the most important learning environment for a child during the early years, is the home.

During these early formative years, the child's most important relationships are with their parents and other primary care-givers, such as siblings, grandparents and other family members.

Consequently, the emphasis of PIP is a home-based, family-centered, parent-guided, child-specific, natural approach to learning. The parent infant program brings together children from infancy through pre-school age, their parents, family and a variety of early intervention professionals to work as a team and offer services to assist families in communicating and bonding with their children in the child's natural environment. Parents are encouraged to network with other parents. PIP helps hearing impaired children and their parents develop potential in primary areas and strives to nurture the child's development of language, literacy skills, growth in world awareness, positive self-esteem, personal responsibility and cultural pride.

Although there are improved and widespread special schools for hearing impaired children available across India, the value of an integrated educational program remains significant. The Indian government's educational legislation emphasizes integration of the disabled child into ''normal' schools through mainstreaming of children with various disabilities, including hearing impairment. Consequently, to achieve successful integration, pre-school education for hearing impaired children plays a key role in establishing the foundation upon which further learning occurs.

Research suggests that, hearing impaired children who have attended pre-school showed better academic performance and social integration in normal schools when compared to their counterparts who did not attend pre-school (Mahendru, 2001). However, pre-school programs for hearing impaired children may not be a success without active participation by parents.

The PIP was established to assist parents in developing strategies needed to nurture their child's language, speech, auditory, intellectual abilities, social and emotional growth throughout their education.

However, there is lack of research which emphasizes the role of PIP in pre-schools for the hearing impaired children. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the impact of PIP on academic performance and cooperativeness of hearing impaired children in preschool.

In the present context, academic performance refers to the basic preschool tasks as specified in Mukul, 1999 and cooperativeness refers to the child's overall willingness and participation in a formal pre-school. Validity information was obtained by conducting a study of 73 children, scores in academic performance and cooperativeness were compared between two groups (PIP attending and not attending).