Effects of Emotional Needs on Participation of Children Aged 4-6 with Learning Disabilities In Early Childhood Centers in Starehe Division, Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

During early childhood, the foundations for emotional, social and spiritual well being of children with learning disabilities (CWLD) are laid. The CWLD emotional well being is influenced by all the experiences they go through. It is essential to provide warm, trusting relationships, predictable and safe environment, affirmation and respect for all aspects of children's emotional, physical, social, cognitive and linguistic well being of CWLD. There is need to actively seek to remove the barriers to learning and participation, meet emotional needs in a positive and pro-active way and engender a sense of community in an inclusive Early Childhood Education (ECE) environment. The study assesses the effects of emotional needs on participation of (CWLD) in (ECE) centers in Starehe division in Nairobi County. In its methodology the study uses structured interview and observation as the principle data collection instruments. Likewise, it employed a descriptive research design to gather data. The target population was 5 head teachers, 35 teachers, 20 children aged 4-6 with learning disabilities and 20 parents of children with learning disabilities. Purposive sampling and simple random sampling were used for this study. Analysis was obtained through editing, coding, classifying and tabulation processes. It was established that emotional needs of (self concept, social competence and respect) which teachers effectively engaged yielded encouraging results in an inclusive ECE learning environment. However, the findings draw attention to inadequacies in the current ECE system of identifying emotional needs for CWLD.Despite various studies on CWLD, many issues remain underexplored when it comes to emotional needs Schulte (2002). After realizing the desperate need for quality ECE for CWLD, UNESCO (2006) declared every child's entitlement to a basic education and participation in school and in community. Furthermore, in the year 2000, member states committed to serve vulnerable and disadvantaged children by signing the Darker Framework for Action UNESCO (2001). Currently however, these goals are not met. Stigma, ignorance and neglect are still barriers for participation for CWLD.According to Smith (2007) when CWLD grow up to their best to satisfy their childhood emotional needs and if the needs are not met, CWLD experience emotional pain. To mitigate such emotional pain there is need for ECE curriculum to focus on skills that will foster high participation for CWLD. These skills include (responsibility,

Relation between Learning Disabilities and Socioemotional Skills in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review

“…Likewise, it was found that most of the studies [2,5,6,7,10,11,13,14,15,16,17,18,20] approach their research from a population with a general interpretation of LD. It means that it is specifically undetailed in which area or fields of learning children/adolescents have difficulties, except for six studies that do [3,4,8,12,19,21] and a pair combining populations with both general and specific diagnoses [1,9].…”

“…Intervention programs are also proposed for emotional self-regulation and identification of the emotions to achieve higher empathy and better socialization [17,19,20,21]. It was also found that a systematized dance program improves performance in mathematics and skills such as motivation, commitment, self-esteem, and self-regulation of emotions to take responsibility for their behavior and awareness of the personal space of the other [16].…”