CommunicAble: Development of a dynamic assessment instrument as a basis for communication and language support of young blind and partially sighted children

In order to ensure that young children with visual impairment (VI) receive the support they need, it is necessary to obtain a detailed picture of their communication and language skills. Missing out on visual information has major consequences for communication and language development and this starts already after birth. Blind children, for example, do not see that parents are paying attention to them and are unable to make eye contact. By missing visual information, children with VI can develop delays and deviations in communication and language, for example because they start interacting with objects much later than sighted children or do not say "I", when referring to themselves. Children with VI can also have difficulty linking language to people, objects or events and more often use words of which they do not know the meaning. They generally find it more difficult to learn to take others into account during social contact. Problems in communication and language development affect other areas of development and can hinder social participation, self-determination and access to information. These problems can, however, be reduced or even prevented if a child with VI receives appropriate support from an early age. Research shows that parents not always know how to take their child with VI into account in communication. Without a clear picture of the abilities and needs of the individual child with VI, also professionals can over- or underestimate the child. For example, they may try to train the child in the use of spoken language, while the child has not yet sufficiently learned how to participate in turn taking. It also happens that communicative signals from a child with VI are missed, because they look different from signals that a typical child shows. In order to get a clear picture of the abilities of a young child with VI, not only the overall level of language comprehension and production of the child needs to be considered. It is also important to identify the use of communication and language skills in social contact and the extent to which educators support the child in an appropriate manner. Speech therapists and psychologists involved in treatment programs for young children with VI have indicated that there is currently a lack of appropriate assessment tools to map out in detail the communication and language skills of children with VI. Existing instruments developed for sighted children often contain visual test materials, which makes them not or insufficiently valid and reliable for children with VI. Instruments that are developed for children with VI are not suitable for very young children or do not give a full picture of the communication and language abilities and needs of the child. In this project we want to develop an assessment instrument that offers clear tools for stimulating communication and language development in children with VI between 0 and 4 years of age on the one hand, and for providing support to the parents on the other hand. We also want to ensure that results of communication and language treatment can be properly monitored with the instrument. That is why a dynamic assessment approach is chosen, in which the nature of the interventions needed to remedy or reduce the child's problems in communication and language development is investigated. The new instrument will be developed by adapting and complementing existing instruments, making use of scientific knowledge and practical experience. The new instrument will be submitted for evaluation to experience experts (people with VI) and professional experts. Subsequently, the instrument will be applied in a try-out, involving four children with VI. Two children will have blindness and two will have partially sightedness. Based on the results of the try-out, the instrument will be adjusted. The instrument will then be administered twice in a pilot-study, involving a total of 16 young children with partially sightedness or blindness. Based on the first results of each child, an intervention aimed at child and parents will be applied during a two months period. Then, each child is assessed again. After the assessments, the experiences of parents and professionals will be evaluated and the reliability of the instrument will be determined. Based on these findings, the instrument will be fine-tuned.