Interviewing children with cerebral palsy - how do we represent their voice?

This presentation will present extracts from a transcript of interview data collected from a research project, exploring the views of children with Cerebral Palsy who participated in adapted dynamic cycling. This case study of a 10 year old child, with limited verbal communication, demonstrates the need for the parents/ guardians to be present to interpret the spoken language. This practice of interviewing children with a responsible adult present means it is harder to find out the child’s view. Ethical concerns are expressed in terms of interviewing children who have a disability, under the age for consent (16 years), without an adult present. The challenge of enabling children with cerebral palsy to have a voice to express their views will be discussed. Methods other than verbal interview will be explored. Reflections will be expressed of how the researcher changed the nature of the questions from open to more closed questions in an attempt to enable the child to respond with one word answers. The ability of the researcher to reflect in action to adapt these communication skills will be discussed. Goals for roundtable discussion: To explore what other methods people have used to obtain the views of children with communication difficulties. To discuss the ethical concerns of doing research with children with limited verbal communication