JCPSLP Vol 21 No 2 2019 DIGITAL Edition

Design A qualitative research methodology was employed. Data was collected using face-to-face focus groups. Following this, thematic analysis was conducted (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to address the research aim. Participants Nine students, aged between 5 and 6 years, from three different classrooms in the same primary school, participated in this study. The participants were recruited as part of a larger study investigating the outcomes of a classroom-based oral language and early literacy intervention (Lennox et al., 2018). Three classroom teachers from one school were asked to hand out parent permission forms to parents of five students in their class who had participated in the 24-week intervention in its entirety. The decision to limit invitations to five students per class was to ensure broad representation while at the same time ensuring data collection was feasible, both for the research team and students at the schools. Teachers were not given any further instruction regarding which parents they should approach. All students who returned the parent permission forms were included in the focus groups. The demographics of the student sample are presented in table 1.

Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) clearly recognising that accounting for children’s perspectives is critical to the development of meaningful interventions (Dunn, Niens, & McMillan, 2014). For SLPs who work with students who have speech, language and communication needs, accounting for the students’ perspectives is pivotal in guiding decision-making regarding their education (Palikara, Lindsay, & Dockrell, 2009). To date, qualitative research examining the experiences of those involved in oral language interventions has focused on educational professionals (Lennox, Westerveld, & Garvis, 2017; Marshall, Ralph, & Palmer, 2002) and parents (Paradice & Adewusi, 2002), or the perspectives of children involved in targeted, withdrawal-model, speech-language pathology interventions (Cremin & Slatter, 2004; McCormack, McLeod, McAllister, & Harrison, 2010; Merrick & Roulstone, 2011). An opportunity to examine children’s views and experiences arose following a recent study examining PrepSTART, a 24-week, classroom-based intervention developed by SLPs, targeting shared reading, phonological awareness, oral narrative and vocabulary skills through the use of interactive book-based activities (see Lennox et al., 2018). PrepSTART was created to respond to the need of three primary schools who shared similar student profiles, specifically, student school entry data, cultural diversity, socioeconomic status and Australian Early Development Index (AEDI, 2013) national data results. The intervention was delivered using 12 commercially available, age- appropriate books. Each book was targeted for a 2-week period. Each week, students engaged in four 1-hour sessions, which included a 30-minute whole class activity and a 30-minute small group activity. Scripted session plans were used to support fidelity of implementation by trained teachers and teacher aides. To facilitate home to school transference and student engagement, the target book was borrowed by students for one of the 2 weeks it was targeted in the classroom. There is evidence to suggest the benefits of PrepSTART as illustrated by the positive progress made by students who participated in the intervention, in the areas of phonological awareness, vocabulary and the quality of oral narrative retell (Lennox et al., 2018). The teachers and teacher aides who facilitated the program also highly valued the program, while offering suggestions around how to further facilitate the interdisciplinary approach (Lennox et al., 2017). However, understanding the participants’ experience may provide further insights into the factors relevant to the success of the program from the students’ perspective, with subsequent implications for clinicians and researchers seeking to develop and implement PrepSTART or similar programs in the future. Focus of the study The current study focuses on the perceptions of students who were involved in PrepSTART, an oral language and early literacy program. The aim of this study was to investigate the thoughts and experiences of students participating in the program, and whether they enjoyed participating in the program. Method Approval to conduct this research was obtained from the Human Ethics Committee, Griffith University and by the Assistant Regional Director, Department of Education, Queensland.

Table 1. Participant demographics

Class Focus group

Name Gender

Age (months)

Culturally and/or linguistically diverse

1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3

Prep J Prep J Prep J Prep S Prep S Prep S Prep R Prep R Prep R

Yes No No Yes No No Yes

67 64 71 75 73 68 68 66 74

F F F M F F F F M

Annie Bella Chloe Dylan Ella Faith Grace Harper Isaac

Marleen Westerveld (top) and David Trembath

No No

Focus groups Three student focus groups with three students per group were conducted at one school site (n = 9). The focus groups were held in the school library during the afternoon session of the school day. The researchers had not been involved in delivering the intervention program and were unknown to the students. During the focus groups, the researchers asked a series of prompting questions to facilitate discussion (table 2). To promote a more relaxed atmosphere, students engaged in a drawing task during the conversation (Clark, 2011; Merrick & Roulstone, 2011). Ceci and Bruck (1998) reported that open style interviews lead to a less threatening atmosphere for students and encourage responses that are reflective of the children’s concerns, decreasing the misinterpretation of intended messages. Student responses were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim, and de-identified. The student names presented in table 1 are pseudonyms. Analysis Thematic analysis was conducted on the content of the transcripts as per the procedure outlined by Braun and Clarke (2006). This involved looking at and beyond the

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JCPSLP Volume 21, Number 2 2019

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