Intro When someone learns that a child has speech impairment, the child is often treated differently due to the lack of communication the child possesses. Everything around the child with a speech impairment changes due this communication boundary. This study is going to look at how the home environment created for a child with a speech impairment changes due to their impairment, and how these changes affect the child with the impairment. This study will also look at how various environments that also effect a child’s   speech impairment.

“Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have shifted from having limited involvement with parents to, in some services, a collaborative relationship with the whole family” (Pappas,2006). This is why it is important to look more into how the family relationship affects the child with speech impairment.

According to Hanna & Rodger (2002).   “Family-centred practice is a philosophy of care which embraces parental control over intervention services, considers the whole family as the client rather than just the child and focuses on forming positive relationships between families and professionals.” This study will look more into how the family as a whole helps the child develop communication wise, and why family centered practices is so important.

Studies often look at specific relationships of children with speech impairments such as the parent, other children or sibling, but, study’s rarely look at all the relationships in the family and the environment the family creates for the child.  Barr (2008) examines the idea that siblings of children with speech impairment often take on a protector role for their siblings. She looked at this protector role affects the sibling of the child with speech impairment. I would like to look at how the actions of these children even when they are trying to protect can be harmful to the child, and how these actions can also be beneficial, such as in Barr’s study found that siblings will at times talk for their sibling with a disability. I have found in other studies that it is harmful to a child with speech impairment to communicate for them and often leaves the child feeling insecure.

I will look into the family structure and how that possibly affects the child. I want to see how that child is treated differently in the family. I will reveal about how the way a child is treated with in a family centered practice affects the child with a speech impairment. There is very little research done in this field.

My study will also look at a lack of structural environment such as residential care and children who were in adoption agencies. In a recent study conducted by J. Hageman (2006) suggested that children in residential care are more at risk for not being diagnosed with language impairments.  Beverly (2008) also found that children previously adopted from specific countries are more likely to have a language disorder. My study will discuss how the environment that these children grew up in affected their communication disorder.

I interviewed a speech and language pathologist to talk about the affects an environment can have on a child with speech impairment. I also interviewed a family with a child who has speech impairment. I will discuss my results and analyze how the child’s environment may be successfully changed.  It is important for a child with speech impairment’s environment to be comfortable as possible or the child may be affected in a negative manner.

Literature Review The environment and people a child grows up around has a big influence on how the child develops. This is especially true for children with speech impairments. I found several articles that support the idea that children with speech impairments are affected by their relationships with others and the environment around them.

A research study done in (2008), on the siblings of the children with speech impairments. The study interviewed six siblings who had a brother with speech impairment. The study concluded that the siblings of the children with the speech impairment often became the protector of the child by watching out for their siblings in school, trying to protect their sibling from outside cruelty of others.  The siblings protect them to the point that in on case the teachers would call the sibling to help their brother through a mental breakdown. (2008) This study suggested that these protective care-giving attributes are shown more in girls than boys. These protective strategies allow the child to be able to depend on their siblings and often look up to their siblings and follow then around.

This article also found that often the sibling without the speech impairment will talk for their sibling. The siblings will talk for their brother so to the other person can understand what their brothers are saying. (2008, J.Barr) Others studies suggest that is not in the child with the speech impairments benefit to speak for them. When a child is unable to practice their communication skills they will not grow in their speech.

According to a study done in (2006) impairments are praised for different stages of communication than children with a typical communication development. This article talks about how the communication is important for children with speech impairments to make friends. These steps need to be reached in order for the child to make friends with their peers, which as the author states is important for the child’s development. (2006, REED)  I would like to look into what could how these peers influence the child’s impairment.

My research also looks at the different ways a child in an unstable environment is effect. A research study done in (2010) describes how children in residential care are often unidentified. The author (Hagaman) talks about how children are often placed under as having a learning disability or having low IQ but really need help for a learning disability. The author suggests that when a child is not diagnosed and treated the child is in danger of poor social skills, and face educational risks.

In a study done in (2008) the author investigated children adopted from the Soviet Union. The author concluded that children adopted from the Soviet Union 82% of the 45 participants had a special education label. The most common label was a communication disorder. This study done by Beverly, B implied that children who were born into an unconstructed environment, such as the Soviet Union are more likely to develop communication issues.

For my interviews I would like to look into how a speech pathologist would handle a child who has been affected by their environment. This interview will also tell me how a specialist would suggest going about to help a child’s communication grow. I will also look into how different cases a speech pathologist might have. I will look into the cases that deal with different environments the child may grow up in.

Methods- When looking for a research method it is hard to know what is the right method for you when writing a paper. After careful research on methodology I came to the conclusion that interviewing who has a child who has a speech impairment would be my best option.

Using an interview style helped me better understand the interactions within the family. The interview style helped me get specific detail on how the participants feel and reacted to having a child with speech impairment.

I interviewed my close friends family of six to get information on how they felt about the impairment and how the members of the family treated the impairment. An interview form of methodology with one family of six will help me answer my question “How does the family relationship of a child with a speech impairment positively or negatively affect the child with the impairment?” by giving me enough information about the topic that I can analyze but, with having six participants I am able to not feel overwhelmed by the information being thrown at me.

For my interview I will be emailing the family about ten open and closed questions. I made it so the interviewing process takes no more then fifteen minutes if the participants so choose. This way the family doesn’t feel stressed when going into the project.

For this email I looked at the similarities and what is being brought up often in the answers to my questions. I looked into why this could be and how this affects the child with speech impairment.

For the second part of the interviewing process I recorded an interview done with the child who has the impairment and the rest of the siblings. I this interview helped me get a closer look at how the family interacts with one another not just on paper but by observation.

For this interview I will ask the child with speech impairment and the siblings questions trying to get to know them. I will asked around five questions the point of this interview is to observe if the siblings treat the child with the impairment differently and if so how? I judged why I believe they treat the child differently and how they treat them differently based on the interactions with one another and the questions that are answered.

After combining my three papers there were a few things I need to change. I first found more articles about the family practices because I needed to take out a few articles because, I refined my question. I also found that with my methods section I needed to make it in past tense. I also needed write how I was going to analyze my methodology. I also had to put all onf my references together into one big reference section.

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