Date of Award

Spring 5-11-2012

Degree Type

Honors College Thesis

Department

Speech and Hearing Sciences

First Advisor

Scott Palasik

Advisor Department

Speech and Hearing Sciences

Abstract

Purpose: This study focuses on an area seldom studied, the parent’s perception of television’s influence on their speech and language disordered child’s receptive and expressive skills. Understanding the parent’s perspective on specific effects television has on speech and language development can be valuable by providing educators and child caretakers with answers as to why parents allow their children to watch television. With this knowledge, parents can be educated as to what type of programming and to what extent viewing should be allowed for children to gain positive speech and language outcomes from their television viewing experience.

Method: .This study gathered data through surveys completed by parents of children with speech and language disorders. Descriptive statistics with all dependent and independent variables along with a series of MANOVAs and ANOVAs were conducted.

Results: Results indicated significantly favorable perceptions of television’s impact on expressive and receptive speech and language skills found with parents who: possessed a high school level education, allowed their children to watch more than two hours of unsupervised television, and reported their speech and language disordered child as the youngest in the family.

Conclusions: Parents tend to have more positive perceptions of television’s influence on expressive and receptive skills for their younger children. Parents who possess positive perceptions of television tend to allow their children to watch more television unsupervised than parents who do not share these positive perceptions.

Included in

Life Sciences Commons

Share

COinS