Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate both the concurrent validity of a new measure that aims to assess parent knowledge of early language development, designed by researchers at the University of Chicago Medical Center led by Dana Suskind, M.D., and levels of parent knowledge across groups of participants. More specifically, the study made use of the new measure, the Baby SPEAK (Survey of Parental Expectations and Knowledge About Language Learning, Infant Focus; Suskind, 2014), and a standardized measure, the Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory (KIDI; MacPhee, 2002). Surveys were administered to both parents of children with and without hearing loss and scores were compared across child hearing status and other demographic variables. The results provide evidence for concurrent validity, as participants’ scores on the KIDI were significantly, positively correlated with scores on the Baby SPEAK. It was also found that participants with a child with hearing loss scored higher than parents with a child without hearing loss. These groups, however, differed in many other ways including age, education, and income level. Some significant relationships were found between demographic variables and scores on the Baby SPEAK and KIDI, although, due to high variability within the sample, further investigation is warranted.

Advisor

Goldberg, Donald

Second Advisor

Thompson, Claudia

Department

Communication Studies; Psychology

Disciplines

Child Psychology | Communication | Linguistics | Psychology

Keywords

parental knowledge, hearing loss, child development, socioeconomic status, Baby SPEAK, KIDI

Publication Date

2016

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2016 Lena Grace Smith