MST-Department of Special Needs Education

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    Analysis of Special Needs Educational Support Services on Academic Performance of Learners with Physical Disabilities in Kiambu County, Kenya.
    (Kenyatta University, 2021) Ndung’u, Pauline Njeri; Dr. Fransiscah I. Wamocho; Dr. Nelly W. Otube
    The purp ose of this study was to analyze special needs educational support services on academ ic performance of learners with physical disabi lities in Kiambu County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to find out how provision of mobility and self help skills influence academic performance of learners with physical disabilities, find out how provision of counseling and medical skills influence academic performance of learners with physical disabilities, find out how multidisciplinary services are offered to learners with physical disabilities and determine the challenges faced by teachers and professionals in providing support services to learners with physical disabilities. The study adopted survey research design, employing survey method to achieve the objectives. The study was guided by Social Cognitive Theory The target population for this study was 120 learners with physical disabilities, 400 teachers and 12 professionals such as social workers, counselors, nurses and occupa tional therapists. P urposive sampling was used to select four professionals and stratified ra ndom sampling technique was used to select thirty six learners and one hundred and twenty teachers. Q uestionnaires were used to collect information from learners and teachers and interview guide to collect information from professionals . The quantitative data was sorted, coded an d keyed into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software and presented using descriptive statistics where tables of frequencies and percentages were used. The qualitative data was edited, organized into themes and categories and presented in di scussion form. The find ings revealed that support services helped the learners to participate in class, socialize with others and improved the performance of the learners. There was collaboration with professionals and teachers . The counselors, social work er and teachers mostly visited the schools and professionals faced challenges such as heavy workload, financial problems and some parents were uncooperative when called upon by the professionals. The conclusion of the study was that support services helped the learners to participate and socialize hence improved performance of learners. The recommendations were as follows: School management of learners with physical disabilities should be keen in provision of adequate self help skills to learners by employi ng an occupational therapist. School administration should employ nurses to offer medical services to learners, the ministry of education should deploy more professionals for schools with learners with physical disabilities and provide funds for buying mat erials and equipment and the parents should be encouraged by schools to be cooperative with professionals.