Determination Of Difficulties Encountered By Mothers Having Children With Multiple Disabilities During Early Childhood Special Education Services Process

Abstract

SummaryEarly childhood special education (ECSE) is support services including critical implementations in issues like increasing the quality of life of children with multiple disabilities and their families, providing them with education services and decreasing the negative effects of disabilities and developmental delays (Howard, Williams and Lepper, 2010). Even though early childhood special education, the development and education of these children, and increasing the quality of life of families are included in legal regulations, many difficulties are encountered in their implementation. These problems include arranging family education programs in line with the needs of families, the active participation of family members to the education and the coordination of families with experts regarding the education of children with disabilities. In addition, the support services provided for the families are observed to be insufficient in overcoming difficulties. This study aims to determine the difficulties encountered by the mothers having children with multiple disabilities during early childhood special education services and suggest solutions for the results.Data were obtained through semi-structured interview technique from qualitative research methods. The study included 6 mothers living in Ankara Province and having children with multiple disabilities whose ages ranged between 1 and 7 years. Data were analyzed by inductive analysis technique. The study found that the mothers felt shocked upon learning the disabilities of their children, the biggest supporters of the mothers when raising their children were their own mothers, they had negative responses from their neighborhood and relatives upon sending their children to school and special education institutions, children with multiple disabilities had difficulties in fulfilling social skills, communicative skills and self care skills in early childhood period and children had difficulties in getting education in classes applying mainstreaming implementations.According to the findings of the research, in many studies conducted with the families of children with disabilities, since mothers were observed to be the individuals having all responsibilities, they stand alone in raising and the education of children with disabilities without the support of any institutions or persons. In addition, literature includes studies reporting low participation of fathers having children with disabilities in activities regarding their children (Gallagher, and Schopler, 1988; cited by. Riposo,1999). According to another result, mothers stated that the society in which they lives had pity on them and excluded them and their children so they got desperate. However, even though it does not remove the stressing event, the support from the relatives, neighbors and society to mothers having children with disabilities in difficult times makes mothers feel their children and themselves are valuable, decreases their concerns, enables mothers to have more control over themselves and m...

Growing up with Additional Disabled Child: The Life Story of a Mom

“…The biggest supporter of the mother in the process is her husband (Köksal & Kabasakal, 2012). Mothers who cannot get enough support from their spouses generally get support from their own families (Yıldırım & Akçamete, 2014). The mother states that she cannot get enough support from her husband.…”

“…There are various research findings stating that families with children with disabilities experience problems in their social relations because of their children (Altuğ-Özsoy et al, 2006;Kurt et al, 2008;Wang & Michaels, 2010;Yıldırım & Akçamete, 2014). Especially mothers with additional disabilities or children with multiple disabilities state that they have problems with their environment and can only go to their own families (Kizir & Tekinarslan, 2018).…”

“…When the literature is examined, studies address the difficulties experienced by mothers with children with additional disabilities (Graungaard & Skov, 2007;Karadağ, 2009;Sardohan-Yıldırım & Akçamete, 2014;Sardohan-Yıldırım & Vezne, 2022) and the needs of families experiencing these difficulties (İnce et al, 2022;Redmond & Richardson, 2003;Sloper & Turner, 1992). There are also studies based on the opinions of families (Bahçıvanoğlu-Yazıcı & Akçin, 2014;McIntyre et al, 2004).…”

Zihinsel Yetersizliğe Sahip Çocukların Annelerinin Yaşadıkları Güçlükler ve Başa Çıkma Stratejileri Hakkındaki Görüşleri

“…Bazıları özel eğitim kurumlarını tanımamakta, yerini bilmemekte, bazen gittikleri uzak kurumdan kendi evlerine yakın bir kurum olduğunu duyduklarını, bu nedenle çocuklarının eğitimlerinin, bilhassa tanının hemen ertesinde alacağı eğitimin sekteye uğradığını belirtmişlerdir. Bu konuyla ilgili yapılan bir incelemede de anneler; çocukları için erken çocukluk özel eğitim hizmetlerinde doğru bilgiye erişimde güçlük yaşadıklarını bildirmişler, kaynağı belli olmayan bilgilerle hareket ettiklerini ve bilgilerin çok dağınık olduğunu söylemişlerdir (Yıldırım, Akçamete, 2014). Özellikle erken çocukluk çağında özel eğitim hizmeti gerektiği durumlarda, annelerin bilgisizlik yaşamasının kendilerini engelleyici bir etmen olduğu söylenebilir.…”