Facilitating participation of children with disability and commuication difficulties in leisure : parents' perceptions and experiences

Background: Participation is a multidimensional experience influenced by personal, interpersonal, socio-cultural and environmental factors. Currently, relatively little literature exists that explores the roles and experiences of parents as they facilitate participation of their child with a disability and communication difficulties. Aim/s: This Honours Project explores parental perceptions regarding their child's participation, focusing on the experience of facilitating communicative participation within leisure contexts. Method: Thirty-nine parents of children with a disability aged 0-18, completed an online Qualtrics® survey comprising closed and free text questions, administered via the social media site Facebook. Closed question responses underwent descriptive analysis, and free text question responses were analysed using an established thematic framework. Follow-up interviews, guided by a semi-structured interview scaffold, were conducted with 2 of the survey participants, with this data also analysed thematically. Results: Children with a disability and communication difficulties participate in a range of leisure activities, the nature and extent of which are influenced by the child's abilities and preferences, family capacity, availability of resources and knowledge and skills of leisure facilitators. Five themes emerged to account for the qualitative experiences of participants: Beliefs and values about leisure; Child factors; Activity factors; Environment factors; Social factors. Subthemes further illustrate common and unique aspects of parents' experiences. Conclusion: Understanding how parents perceive and experience their role as facilitators of leisure participation adds valuable information to the discussion regarding participation conceptualisation. It can also help inform multiple aspects of speech pathology practice including goal setting and collaborative practice focussed on communicative and social participation of children with disabilities within leisure activities.