The Experience of Parents with Speech Delayed Children in Garut, Indonesia

摘要

Speech delay in children occurs when a child finds it difficult to use and develop the mechanisms required to produce speech. Some of the unfavorable consequences of speech delay in children include poor academic achievement, reduced IQ, and psychosocial problems. Thus, this study aimed to explore the experience of parents with speech delayed children in Garut, Indonesia. A descriptive phenomenological approach was used to explicate the knowledge of parents about speech delay, the experience of parents with children suffering from speech delay and parental support provided to children with speech delay. In-depth audio-taped interviews were conducted with the ten participants who met the inclusion criteria for this study. The transcripts of each participant were analyzed using Colaizzi's approach. The major themes discussed in this study include parenting Practice associated with speech delay in children, parents' feeling when they found out that they have speech delay children, and parents' support towards the treatment of speech delay in children. The findings generated in this study confirmed that parents have a key role to play in the development of their children's speaking skills at the early childhood stage. This study also revealed that the immense patience and unwavering support of parents are crucial to the successful treatment of speech delay in children.