2026 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 15-17, 2026 • Jacksonville, FL
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3/03/2021 | 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM | What Do We Know About the Fathers? Research in the Field of Young Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing | Networking
What Do We Know About the Fathers? Research in the Field of Young Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Much of what is known about the experiences and perceptions of parenting children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) is based on input from mothers. To be certain, mothers play a vital role in fostering the development of their children! Yet, what about fathers? What is known about the unique and important ways that fathers influence their DHH children? What are fathers’ experiences and beliefs of parenting DHH children?
This presentation will highlight the results of a systematic review that explored what has been published pertaining to fathers of young DHH children. It will summarize the essential findings of the research that has included fathers of children who are DHH by contextualizing the work across six themes (e.g., parental stress, involvement, and self-efficacy). The remaining “gaps in knowledge” will be discussed.
Families, professionals and researchers will be welcomed to this workshop. The presentation will likely affirm what many families already know – fathers are important! It will offer ideas for how they can ensure that all caregivers - whether fathers, mothers, grandparents, extended family, or whomever else is caring for children – are included and valued in the EHDI services. Professionals are likely to take away ideas about how to better engage fathers in the work that they do. For researchers, suggestions for broadening future research to be more inclusive of fathers and other caregivers will be offered. Participants will be engaged in an activity exploring how they might address the need for inclusion of fathers' perspectives.
- 1. Label and describe a minimum of 3 of the 6 themes found in the research on fathers.
- 2. Generate and share with one other person at least 2 arguments for the intentional inclusion of fathers of DHH children in research.
- 3. Identify and articulate 1 or more “interesting facts” presented during the session.
Presentation:
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Handouts:
Handout is not Available
Transcripts:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference
Presenters/Authors
Amy Szarkowski
(POC,Primary Presenter), University of Massachusetts Boston, Amy.Szarkowski@gmail.com;
Dr. Szarkowski is a psychologist who specializes in supporting children who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families. She was on the Writing Team for the FCEI-DHH special issue.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
• Receives Salary,Grants for Employment,Teaching and speaking from University of Massachusetts Boston.
Nonfinancial -
• Has a Professional
(Advisory Board)
relationship for Board membership.
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Financial relationship with University of Massachusetts Boston
Boston Children's Hospital
.
Nature: Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) training grants
Hands & Voices FL3 Center Advisory Board.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
Evelien Dirks
(Co-Presenter,Co-Author), Dutch Foundation of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Child, Developmental Psychology University Leiden, edirks@nsdsk.nl;
Evelien Dirks is a senior researcher at the NSDSK, specialist in Language and Hearing. Her research focuses on parent-child interaction, language, social-emotional and cognitive development in young deaf and hard of hearing children. She is also involved in projects focusing on interactive book reading and early numeracy.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -
AAA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -