UNCOVERING CHILD’S VIEW BY TAILORED INTERVIEWING 95 4 Communication level of the children and types of questions of the interviewer Based on the reaction of the children on the questions/stimuli of the interviewer the children were placed at one of the communication levels (Oskam & Scheres, 2016). The types of questions of the interviewer were observed with the model of Blank (2001). Table 1 gives an overview of the observation of the communication level of the children and the type of questions used by the interviewer. Overall, three children communicated on signal level I (case 1, 3 and 6), two children on signal level II (case 2 and 7), two on symbol level I (case 4 and 8), and two on symbol level II (case 5 and 9). The interviewer used Matching perception in two cases (case 3, 6). She used Matching perception in case 1 as well, but later in the interview she switched to Selective analysis of perception. In one case she used Selective perception (case 2). Reordering perception was used in one case (case 7) and also in another case (8), but during this interview the interviewer occasionally used a question type of Reasoning about perception. In three cases she used Reasoning about perception (case 4, 5, 9). Themes Parental influences In all interview settings one or both parents were sitting close to the child or were nearby in the close vicinity at the start of the interview. In only one interview the parents were not involved, and communication took only place between the child and the interviewer; the parents could hear the conversation. In the other eight interviews the mother (n=4) or both parents (n=4) participated during the interview. Their participation was either supportive to uncover the child’s perspective or unsupportive when taking over answering questions for the child. Supportive actions of the involved parent(s) included ‘setting the stage’ of the interview (diminish distractions by taking away play objects), explaining the procedure and setting the rules to the child during the interview, and giving specific instructions to the interviewer concerning the communication with the child. A general positive attitude to the situation by showing joy and sharing fun or providing a drink to the child and interviewer occurred as well. During the interview supportive behaviour occurred when parents provided additional information about the child’s answers to confirm or specify the answer after the interviewer had asked for confirmation. Some additional information was provided by the parents by sketching specific situations in the child’s life and explaining features of these situations. Another supportive parental action included clarifying questions to and stimulation of the child in a personal communicative way. Techniques such as starting a sentence and waiting for the child to proceed with the sentence, using words like “and” and “or”
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