The Effects of an Early Family-centered Tele-intervention on the Preverbal and Listening Skills of Deaf Children Under tow Years Old

Objectives: Achieving optimal outcomes in deaf children’s communication skills depends on the availability of early specialized high-quality intervention services. Early intervention services through teletechnology could respond to this need. The development of teletechnology has led to the creation of new formats for family-centered services. Such measures could address the hearing, speech, and language needs of young deaf children. This study aimed to investigate the effects of teleintervention for providing early interventions to the families of newborns and deaf children. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test/post-test and a control group design. In total, 30 deaf children aged 0-2 years, and their parents were selected by purposive sampling method. Then, they were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The experimental group received the teleintervention program through the internet in 36 individual and group sessions (24 group sessions & 12 individual sessions). The control group received the same intervention program directly at the rehabilitation centers for deaf children. To investigate the hearing and pre-verbal skills, the Preverbal Communication Skills Scale and the Listening Skills Scale were used. The obtained data were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Results: The provided teleintervention program was effective in increasing the scores of hearing and pre-verbal skills in the studied samples. The intensity of the effect on hearing and pre-verbal skills were 0.57 and 0.28, respectively. Discussion: The present study demonstrated the effect of teleintervention program on hearing and pre-verbal skills in the explored subjects. It also indicated that the provided teleintervention was more effective than direct intervention. Therefore, implementing this program is recommended for therapists, the parents of deaf children, and rehabilitation centers for this population.