Rates of developmental deficits in children entering full-time school are increasing in the UK with recent nursery closures and social restrictions exacerbating the situation. Currently, almost half of the children in the United Kingdom (UK) fail to meet typical developmental milestones in communication, language and personal, social, or emotional development at school entry. Numerous risk factors for the development of school readiness have been identified but a key risk factor is dysfunctional parenting practices.
Parenting programmes are the most effective interventions to improve early child development, however obstacles to recruitment and engagement often prevent some families, particularly disadvantaged families, from accessing support. School-based and online parenting programmes reduce some of the barriers associated with group-based programmes and may be more accessible and therefore appropriate for families.
The Dialogic Book-sharing Programme is a behavioural parenting intervention for parents of young children with developmental deficits in language, communication, attention, and social/emotional understanding. This thesis reports on the first evaluations of the ‘Books Together Programme’ a Dialogic Book-sharing programme for parents of children aged 3-5 years delivered both in a group format by school staff and subsequently as an online programme. Chapter 1 offers an outline of school readiness and its longer-term impact. Chapter two gives an overview of the origins and background of the ‘Book Together Programme’ followed by qualitative exploration of the feasibility of the school-based delivery of the programme for parents and schools (Chapter 3). The second study in Chapter four explores the effectiveness of school-based delivery of the programme for parents and children. The next two chapters report the qualitative and quantitative outcomes of the online evaluation study. The ‘Books Together Programme’ was effective in improving parenting capacity and child development and feedback from schools and parents was positive with all reporting they would continue to use the methods taught. The final chapter of the thesis provides a summary of the research findings and discusses their implications, limitations, and future directions (Chapter 7).