Parenting with Young Children with Speech Delays

Guest Blog by
Nur Rahmadina
Faculty of Medicine, YARSI University
Anna Luthfiana
Departement of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, YARSI University

Background: In Indonesian pediatric practice, parents often report that their young
children have delayed speech. Both intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors may affect
delayed speech. One of the extrinsic factors is the parent-child relationship and the
interaction within the family. Research shows that better parenting is associated
with better child development, including speech and language development. (LINK -
http://www.comfortconsults.com/blog/bid/305466/learning-language-word-
matters-but-parenting-quality-matters-more )

Study Participants:
The 14 Families in the study had young children
diagnosed with delayed speech. All of them have
undergone special treatment for the
delays. Children exercise with the therapist, in
hospital, at least once a week, depending on their
language development. After the session with the
child, the therapist discusses the child’s progress
with the parents and usually ask the parents about
the child’s language progress at home. So, this way
the progress can improve comprehensively.

Study Methods: This research was conducted by a cross sectional survey approach
with Indonesian families in June-August, 2017. The study included 14 families with
young children diagnosed with delayed speech using Denver ii. Both mothers and
fathers participated in play with their children, while researchers observed using the
KIPS parenting assessment [LINK –http://www.comfortconsults.com/kips] to assess
the quality of interactions between parents and their children.

Study Results: Most of the 14 children (64.3%, n= 9) with delayed speech were in the
age group of 2-3 years. The children with the most delayed speech were males
(85.7%, n=12). On the KIPS assessment, 58.3% (n=7) of the 14 parents showed mean
scores within the low-quality range (mean = 1-2.9) on the 5-point KIPS scale. Open to
Child’s Agenda was the KIPS behavior assessed as low-quality most often for 83.3%
of the parent-child dyads. Engaging in Language Experiences was the KIPS behavior
assessed as high-quality (means = 4.0-5) most often for 66.7% of the parent–child
dyads.
Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of low-quality (58.3%) parenting behavior
during parent-child interactions in families of young children with delayed speech.

Researcher’s Comments: What Was Learned From Using KIPS

KIPS helped to understand children’s needs and how to properly respond to children
in every activity they do. Parents learned which behaviour they should build up, and
what behaviour they were missing. As an assessment tool with families of children
with delayed speech, KIPS differentiated the main factors that caused delayed
speech in children with no organic disabilities. I did the assessment using KIPS with
different etnics in Indonesia, but KIPS could still objectively assess the interaction
between parent and children.
Keywords: Delayed speech, interaction, parenting, KIPS

 KIPS mean score for the group of 14 families

KIPS total score for the group of 14 families 40.17

KIPS mean score for the group of 14 families 2.87

 The range of KIPS scores for the 14 families (lowest mean score to highest
mean score)

score total Devided by KIPS SCORE

Highest mean score 42 11 3.81

Lowest mean score 23 11 2.09

Range of KIPS scores 3.81 – 2.09 = 1,72