Does Parental Education Level Matter? Dynamic Effect of Parents on Family-Centred Early Intervention for Children with Hearing Loss

This study explored the dynamic effects between fathers and mothers' education levels on the language outcomes of Mandarin-speaking preschoolers with hearing loss who had received early intervention in Taiwan. Data was collected using the revised preschooler language assessment from 113 children with hearing loss; the children in this study were aged between 37-72 months. The dynamic relationships among parental education levels, audio logical histories, and language performance with respect to early intervention were investigated using path analysis. The effect of maternal education level on the outcome of language comprehension was fully mediated by paternal education level, but the effect of parental education level was not revealed in relation to oral expression. Furthermore, the effect of the degree of hearing loss on language performance outcomes was partially mediated by the length of time the child was enrolled in early intervention, implying that the degree of effects of parental education level or difficulties of children could be remedied through early intervention.