Dr Rija Khanal1, Ms Rona Weerasuriya2,3,4, Ms Libby Smith1,2,3, Dr Valerie Sung1,2,3
1Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, 2Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia, 3Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, 4The Centre for Social Impact, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Introduction and Objective:
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about significant changes to children’s education modalities. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children’s learning by exploring their lived experiences.
Methods:
The Victorian Childhood Hearing Longitudinal Databank (VicCHILD) sent a survey to its participants in May 2020 to explore the impact of COVID-19 on participant families. VicCHILD is a statewide registry of DHH children in Victoria, Australia. We collected data regarding children’s learning methods, enjoyability and engagement with learning. Parents also provided free-text data which was coded thematically using an inductive deductive hybrid approach.
Results:
Of the 806 families sent the survey, 497 (61.7%) families with DHH children aged 0.9 to 19.6 years (mean 7.2), filled in the survey, of whom 385 (77.5%) provided free-text data. Most children (80.3%) experienced changes to their education. Some families expressed there was no impact to learning, whereas a large majority of families reported the pandemic presented barriers to child learning. Some families indicated the pandemic enabled their child’s learning experience.
Discussion and Conclusions:
While some DHH children thrived in their learning with increasing motivation and independence, most families faced challenges during the pandemic with difficulty in engagement and increased distractibility. Hearing difficulties, social isolation, and technological challenges as well as lack of physical learning spaces contributed to some barriers to education. Social isolation was also seen to be a major challenge to learning in this population. It is imperative to understand specific challenges for DHH children to be
Biography:
Dr Rija Khanal is a paediatric fellow at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. She currently works with the refugee and immigrant health department. She has an interest in working with children with disabilities and improving diversity and inclusivity in healthcare.