Presented at ISEC 2000

Childhood Experience of Persons With Disabilities of High Achievement Profile in Retrospect

Tirussew Teferra - Department of Psychology, University of Addis Ababa

Abstract

An attempt was made to examine early psychosocial home and school conditions of persons with disabilities of high achievement and resilient personality qualities. The subjects were persons with hearing, visual and motor impairments. Structured and semi-structured questionnaire and focus group discussions were employed for collecting field data. Over 82% of the participants reported that they had a conducive psychosocial home environment in their early childhood development which was manifested in the form of mutual understanding, affection, acceptance and provision of back-up support. A t-test result also revealed no statistically significant differences across the different disability groups. Furthermore, high correlation coefficient (r = 0.89) and no statistically significant differences was found between early psychosocial experience of the participants and their current home interaction. It is suggested that the quality of early familial psychosocial support for children with disabilities play a vital role for their subsequent achievement and success in life.

INTRODUCTION

A number of people still take the general hereditary view of achievement potential, which in its extreme form consider that the ultimate level of an individual's functioning is determined solely by his genetic endowment (Kirk etal.,1993). They often assume that a baby with disability (special need) will lead a damaged life. They place the label "handicapped" on such a baby and think that the child's physical condition will in and of itself limit and define the person to be. In the current understanding, disability constitutes a necessary but not a sufficient condition for a handicap (UNESCO,1985). The greater the environmental resources, the less the individual's disability are likely to result in a handicap (Tirussew,1994 ). That is, if society has the right understanding and attitude towards persons with disability and if persons with disabilities (special needs) are provided with the necessary care, upbringing, as well as medical and educational services, they will be able to lead a quality of life like any fellow citizens in country. In deed, the basis for the enhancement of the potential of persons with disabilities is opening equal opportunities through creating a conducive social environment and a well coming community. That is, in contrast to the one-dimensional traditional model, which focuses on the singular (mainly on the deficit), considering the individual's behavior as a product of the dynamic transactions between the individual (personal factors) and interlocking environmental factors (social factors) at different stages of development seems to be valid (Bronfenbrenner, 1986; Feuerstein & Rynders,1988 ). Therefore, it should be noted that all human beings need to be considered as open systems, liable to be meaningfully modified by the environmental intervention (Feuerstein & Rynders,1988).

The brain's ability to adapt with experience confirms that early stimulation sets the stage for how children will continue to learn and interact with others throughout life (Newberger,1997). Studies indicate that the capacity to be modified as a result of learning is a characteristic of human beings through out the entire life span (Feuerstein, 1979, Feuerstein, Klein & Tannenbaum,1991). Children are most susceptible to environmental effects in the early developmental years. They learn several generalized expectations that have the potential of affecting most of their life. Evidences suggest that there is a clear connection between a child's ability to settle in a school and the school results, and the quality of time he/she has spent together with his/her parents' (Rye,1997). The holistic development of children requires environments in which children feel secure, are stimulated, and have opportunities to explore, to question, to experiment, to play and to symbolize. If young children's psychosocial needs are neglected, the consequence may be an increasing number of children, youths and adults who cannot effectively participate in the socio-economic development of society or who feel no need for it (Hundiede, 1991). Vulnerabilities established during infant and toddler years, in particular, may become evident during later developmental periods (Guralnick,1991). The tendency to overlook the role of environmental factors and explaining the behavior of a child with disability as disposition drafting "within individual deficits " is fallacious. Such a paradigm not only distorts our understanding of the problem but also misguides the focus of attention and type of treatment or intervention to be employed for children with special needs (Bernard van Leer Foundation,1994).

The main intention of this study was to explore the nature of early childhood home and school experiences of persons with hearing, visual and motor impairment of relatively high achievement profile in the country. The investigation was envisaged to help assess the existence of a link between the type of early psychosocial experience and the present living conditions of the participants. The degree of differences or similarities of early childhood experiences among the three groups were examined. Further more, an attempt was made to identify the problems encountered and coping strategies employed to overcome the challenges faced by the participants at different social settings.

The data generated through this study is presumed to be a useful learning experience for children with different types of disabilities; and parents, caregivers, teachers, as well as others dealing with such children.

METHOD

The scope of the study was delimited to three groups of persons with disabilities namely persons with hearing, visual and motor impairments. Purposeful sampling technique was used to select the participants of the study. Ninety participants were selected through the help of, the Ethiopian National Association of the Deaf (ENAD), the Ethiopian National Association of the Blind (ENAB), the Ethiopian National Association of the Physically Handicapped (ENAPH). The selection criteria set were that the participants should be relatively good achievers, independently leading their livelihood without any economic constrains.

A questionnaire consisting of structured and semi-structured items, and focus group discussion schedules were developed and employed for collecting data. Through using the retrospective approach, attempt was made to explore and map-out the quality of early psychosocial conditions focusing on: Mutual Understanding; Love, Acceptance and Tolerance; and Sharing of Responsibility. These are essential variables, which are considered to be the foundations for promoting feeling of confidence, trust in one's potential and surrounding as well as for subsequent effective functioning . A Likert type of four measure scales were constructed as follows:

Strongly Agree = 4, Agree = 3, Disagree = 2, & Strongly Disagree = 1. These options were given for the participants to indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement against the three psychosocial components. The scale has a reliability coefficient of 0.807 as determined by Cronbach alpha with a standard error of measurement of 2.886.

Among the ninety copies of questionnaires distributed 85.5% or 77, that is, 27 by the visually impaired persons, 25 by the hearing impaired and the remaining 25 by persons with motor impairment were properly completed and returned. The focus-group discussions were held with the executive members of the respective three national associations. The sizes of the focus-group discussion ranged from five to seven. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data were generated and analyzed using the necessary software whenever the need arises.

RESULTS - Background Data of the Participants

The age bracket of the participants' ranges 18-29 (38.9%), 30-39 (25.9%), 40-50 (22%) and over 50 (1.2%). Their sex mix indicates that 83.1% are males while 16.8% are females. As it is very true for the general population, gender disparity is clearly observed among the respondents who were identified as high achievers and leading a successful life. As to their religion, they were found to be believers and the vast majority (76.6%) pursuing the orthodox faith.

Table 1: Educational Level of the Respondents

Most of the respondents (60.8%) have had successfully completed tertiary education. Even those with lower educational background were found to run their own business, earn a reasonable income, have their own family and lead an independently life successfully.

Early Childhood Psychosocial Experience at Home

Eighty two per cent of the respondents confirmed that their relationship with their parents was understanding type, while 18% disclosed the existence of unsatisfactory understanding with their parents. It is important to note that among those who positively evaluated the quality of interaction with their parents, 42.8 % have expressed a very strong feeling about the understanding of their parents. The responses regarding whether the nature of parent-child interaction was loving, accepting and tolerating type were also equally positive like that of the antecedent item. The last component was whether the respondents were given a share of responsibilities in performing household chores or not. Accordingly, 72 % confirmed that they were given responsibilities to carry out at home whereas the remaining 28% were not given. A t-test result based on the weighted responses of the Likert type scales has also shown that there is no statistically significant difference (see Table 2) among the three groups on the nature of psychosocial home environment during their childhood period.

Table 2: T-test Result on Early Childhood Experience Among the Participants

(a = 0.05)

Furthermore, an attempt was made to find out the relationship between early psychosocial home environment and the state of the participants' current emotional climate. The sum total scores of the responses against the Likert type of scales on the state of early childhood family experience and the current familial interaction were compared and the following result was obtained (see Table 3).

Table 3: Correlation Index of Childhood Interaction and the Current Home Interaction

r = 0.89

As the correlation coefficient (r=0.89) indicates there is a high correlation between the quality of interaction one has received during his/her childhood period and what one practices at home as an adult. A t-test was also run on the same item and no statistically significant difference was found between the two scenarios (see Table 4).

Table 4: T-test Result on Early Childhood Interaction and Current Home Interaction

Early School Experiences of the Participants

The participants were asked to indicate whether they had access to early childhood education or special education services. About 40% had access to early childhood education, while 57.1 % did not. Among the former, 31.1% went to church schools, and only 9% attended the so-called "modern" preschools. That is, relatively a good number of the participants did not have access to early childhood education.

On the other hand, 40.2% of the participants had the opportunity to attend special primary schools, while about 57% of the participants pursued their education in regular school settings with non-disabled students. Further breakdowns of the data by type of disability displays that the visually impaired (77.7%) and the hearing impaired (40%) were the most beneficiaries of special school programs. Relatively speaking, most of the special needs of children with motor impairments were easily accommodated within the regular school setting. Regarding enrollment age, almost half of the participants were registered between 5 to 8. The remaining, except the 10% who did not respond to this item joined school at the age of 9 and above. That is, a good number of the participants joined primary school in the right time placing them in at an advantage. Generally, evidences suggest that going to school early is actually unusual for children with disabilities in the country.

Furthermore, the participants noted down a list of problems encountered and coping strategies they utilized to overcome the challenges during their initial years of integrated school settings. The major and common problems faced across the three disability groups include: being undermined and ridiculed by teachers and non-disabled students, lack of special educational provision or support and in-accessibility of school facilities. It was further noted that distorted understanding, socio-cultural misconceptions and misrepresentations such as being perceived as cursed, dependent, unable to learn and special creatures were wide spread in the in the school community. The result of the focus-group discussions also revealed that such unfavorable phenomena negatively impacted on the range and degree of their interpersonal relationships, like being unable to mix-up with non-disabled persons in social gatherings, to play games and develop heterosexual relationships. Moreover, it was reported that the aggregate effect of these conditions has been recorded as the major cause for psychological maladjustment, low academic performance as well as high dropout rate for most children with disabilities.

According to most of the participants of the study they were able to withstand all these adverse situations and succeed in their education because their personnel strengths and social protective factors. They reported that coping mechanisms such as accepting one's disability, being tolerant, exerting effort to learn and develop one's potential, showing one's own potential through creativity and innovation, trying to be accepted by others, creating close relationship with students, and efficient time management had assisted them to overcome the challenges they faced. Moreover, 36.3% and 24.6% of the participants indicated that family members and peers were the persons consulted in time of crisis (personal, social, educational etc.) during their school years respectively.

Discussion and Conclusion

The nature of emotional climate, particularly the quality of parent-child interaction in which children were brought up are the foundations for cognitive, social and communicative growth and development of children (Klein etal., 1996 ; Rye,1997 ). Throughout the life course, the nature of the person's primary relationships with family and friends represents one of the crucial "proximal processes" considered as the engine of development (Bronfenbrenner,1986). The aspects of the psychosocial component, which encompasses the emotional, as well as the interactional pattern with parents included in this study were mutual understanding; acceptance, affection and tolerance; the caring and supportiveness of the family and the degree of sharing of responsibility in the family affairs. For all except sharing of responsibility, over 82% of the respondents were positive about the components of psychosocial conditions of the home environment. Regarding sharing of responsibility, only 72% indicated that they were doing certain household chores. A t-test result revealed no statistically significant differences (a = 0.05) on the psychosocial dimensions across the three disability groups.

In examining the degree of relationship between early child hood psychosocial experience of the participants and the quality of their current home psychosocial interaction. The finding revealed high correlation coefficient (r = 0.89) and no statistically significant differences (a = 0.05) between the two variables. The result obtained goes along with other studies which show that the type of treatment or experience one had during childhood period more or less influences his/her current adult-child pattern of interaction, though there are possibilities of being affected by contemporary situations ( Bowlby, 1992). That is, whatever is invested during childhood period pays a lot for the achievement and success of the person in the later years of life. The inability to develop a set of protective resources early in life not only produces early dysfunction, but also provides the basis for enhanced life time exposure to stress, vulnerability and dysfunction (Haggerty et al. 1996; Hundiede,1991).

Achievement and self-esteem seem to be highly interrelated and one influences the other, nonetheless, the foundation for achievement seems to be positive self-esteem, which has to be cultivated early in life. Low self-esteem is often cited as the ultimate source of poor academic achievement and self-destructive behavior (Haggerty et al. 1996). This, in one way or another affects the personal growth of the person as well as his/her role and status in the society at large. The type of self-esteem the child withholds is by and large dependent on his /her surrounding (Apter,1997). Particularly, the type of early childhood upbringing, early school experiences and peer relations play a vital role in molding the child's self-esteem (Bernard van Leer Foundation; Klein etal.,1996). Indeed, the opinions of significant adults (parents, teachers etc.) have an impact on a child's level of self- esteem. For example, parents or teachers who view a child as competent or attractive communicate their opinion to the child, who eventually internalizes these opinions and begins to view himself /herself accordingly. On the other hand, adults who view a child as unattractive or incompetent also communicate these opinions to the child, who eventually internalizes them and forms unfavorable opinion of himself/herself as well as his surrounding. A child who develops positive self-esteem will become confident about his abilities and is likely to become an adult who respects others and will work well and help others with a strong sense of social interest (Marion,1987; Bandura,1982). Those who consider themselves as effective are usually willing to attempt some solution to whatever problem they face, and they will not give up easily in their efforts to overcome some obstacles. The precondition for adequate functioning is developing self-efficacy (Dlugokinski,1996; Bandura, 1982). That is, like having a sense of " I can do it by myself ", " I have the potential to learn and develop" and "I can contribute to my family or community". It can therefore be argued that positive upbringing through which the participants of this study have passed through might have assisted them for the development of self-efficacy and subsequent successful functioning.

As to the early school environment, the participants particularly those who were placed in an integrated setting had faced unfavorable cognitive-affective and instructional conditions indicating the need for an intervention for better adjustment and achievement. However, the participants revealed that they had overcome the problems through employing coping strategies such as accepting one's disability and being tolerant, personal effort to learn and develop one's potential, showing one's own potential through creativity and innovation, trying to be accepted by others, trying to create close relationship with students, and efficient time management. They further declared that in course of crisis they consulted the family (36.3%) and peers (24.6%) for helping them resolve their personal problems. In this respect, it is worth to note that recent studies have established the effectiveness of peer mediation therapy particularly in an integrating setting where both children with disabilities and their non-disabled partners are pursuing their education (Marion,1987; Bandura,1982). Peer-mediated interventions may also facilitate inclusion mainstreaming of children with disabilities. School counselors or teachers can use this student-to-student learning structures to provide appropriate academic instructions and practice through initiating peer tutoring or co-operative learning. These structures can provide students opportunities to develop and to practice social and problem solving-skills (Maher & Zins ,1987; Kelly &Otter,1991). Moreover, fostering peer relationships can provide feelings of support, belonging, acceptance, caring and other elements of pro-social behavior .

It can therefore be argued that early positive familial and school experience of children with disabilities sets a stage for success in learning and life in general. As this is very true for children in general , it is particularly essential for children with disabilities for cognitive, sensory, communicative stimulation as well as social competence skills which are the corner stones for subsequent learning .

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Index