Parents’ lived experience of community interaction involving their young child with Communication Support Needs

Objectives: Participating in community environments and interacting with community members is a right of every child; however, there is little evidence of how these experiences can be supported for children with Communication Support Needs (CSN). This presentation provides preliminary insights from parents' perspectives in the context of their child meeting people in community environments.

Method: Applying a phenomenological approach, 60-90 minute semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents of children aged 3-6 years with CSN. After member checking, data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis to focus on the community experiences and meanings portrayed by participants. Ethical approval was granted by Charles Sturt University Human Research Ethics Committee (H23665).

Results: Participants were 11 parents of 10 children aged 3-6 years with CSN who lived across rural and metropolitan Australia. Parents shared stories of their child interacting with children and adults in numerous everyday community environments and the impact of community members on these experiences. Through analysis of parents’ stories, a range of community member attributes that impact these experiences emerged. These included openness and curiosity, existing knowledge and skill, attitudes towards disability and using different communication modes, and expectations of interactions when connecting with children with CSN. Parents identified the role of these in both ‘successful’ and ‘unsuccessful’ experiences, with successful ones being built on openness to engage with the child through their preferred ways of communicating. Parents explored their role and how others can support shifting these attributes to enhance children’s community experiences.

Conclusions: The stories shared by parents of children with CSN highlight parents’ perspectives on the range of attributes of community members that influence how they connect with these children. Understanding these different experiences provides insight into opportunities to collaboratively advocate and build community capabilities to ensure that every child and their family has positive community experiences.