ABSTRACT
This study examined the adjustment
problems of the physically handicapped children in integrated schools among
students in selected secondary schools in Mainland Local Government Area of
Lagos State. Related and relevant literature was reviewed under relevant
sub-headings in the study. The descriptive research survey was applied in the
assessment of respondents’ opinions with the use of the questionnaires and the
sampling technique.
A total of one hundred and twenty (120)
respondents were selected to represent the population of this study. The sample
comprised (60 males and 60 females).
Four null hypotheses were formulated
and tested in this study using the independent t-test statistical tool at 0.05
level of significance.
At the end of the exercise, the
following findings were obtained thus:
1.
There is a significant difference between the
social interaction of physically challenged children and normal children in
integrated schools.
2.
That significant difference exists between the
self-concept of handicapped children and the normal ones in integrated schools.
3.
There is a significant difference in the
academic performance of students who are handicapped and those who are not.
4.
There is a significant difference between the
vocational choice of the physically challenged children and that of the normal
children in integrated schools.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract v
Table of contents vi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background to the Study 1
1.2 Statement
of Problem 5
1.3 Purpose
of the Study 6
1.4 Research
Questions 7
1.5 Research
Hypotheses 8
1.6 Significance
of the Study 8
1.7 Delimitation/Scope
of the Study 10
1.8 Definition
of Terms 11
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE
REVIEW 14
2.0
Introduction 14
2.1 Social Interaction and Adolescent Social
Adjustment 14
2.2
A Review of Studies on Problems Related to Self-Concept and
the Adolescent
Adjustment to School 17
2.3
Institutionalization, Mainstreaming or Inclusion: Challenges
for
Special Education
in Nigeria 19
2.4
Concept of Integration and Inclusive Education 24
2.5
Employment Opportunities for the Visually Impaired in
Nigeria 25
2.6
Disparity Between Policy and Practice 32
2.7
Students’ Academic Performance 37
2.8
Vocational Opportunity/Choice of Students 40
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 43
3.0
Introduction 43
3.1 Research Design 43
3.2 Population of the Study 43
3.3 Sample and Sampling Technique 44
3.4 Instrumentation 45
3.5 Validity of Instruments 47
3.6 Reliability of the Instruments 47
3.7 Method of Data Collection 47
3.8 Method of Data Analysis 48
CHAPTER FOUR: Analyses
of Data and Presentation of Results 49
1.1
Introduction 49
1.2
Descriptive analyses of teachers’ bio-data according
to sex, age,
religion,
class taught, qualification and years of service of teachers 49
1.3
Descriptive analyses of students’ bio-data according
to sex, age,
class and
religion 52
1.4
Hypotheses Testing 54
4.5 Summary of Findings 59
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION,
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 60
5.0 Introduction 60
5.1 Discussion of the Findings 60
5.2 Summary of the Study 66
5.3 Conclusion 67
1.4
Recommendations 68
1.5
Suggestions for Further Studies
1.6
References
1.7
Appendix
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Education is a key
to the development of an individual’s potential, nation’s prospects and the world
as a whole. Education has become a fundamental tool for developing economics of
the nations of the world. It is on this premise that the United Nations (UN)
mandated that education should be part of the privileges and rights the
citizenry or any member of the society should enjoy. The national policy on
education of Nigeria also supports the view that all children and adults in the
country should enjoy the basic education no matter their state or status.
The National Policy on Education,
Section 3 stated five main national goals of Nigeria that were endorsed as
necessary foundation for the development. The goals are
2.
A free and democratic society.
3.
A just and egalitarian society.
4.
A united, strong and self-reliant nation.
5.
A great and dynamic economy.
6.
A land full of bright opportunities for all citizens.
Also in Section 4(c), the Nigeria
philosophy of education states that every Nigerian child shall have a right to
equal education opportunities, irrespective of any creed or unargued
disabilities, each according to his or her ability (NPE, 2004).
To date, in an attempt to ensure an
equal educational opportunities for all, there is still one un-served
population that unlike some groups, is hard to identify, place and programme in
public schools. They are the handicapped children. Handicapped children are
referred to as special children or exceptional children and this points to the
importance of the different kind of care they need (Oyebola, 1997). There has
been a conscious move towards the integration of handicapped children into
regular school programmes, not only in Nigeria but in most countries of the
world. During the world congress of the council for exceptional children (CEC)
held in Stilling, Scotland a lot of emphasis was placed on mainstreaming.
In the National Policy on Education
(2004) it was stated that government had decided that integration is the most
realistic form of special education for the handicapped since they are
eventually expected to live in the society.
In the past, no one thought of giving
the handicapped the attention they are receiving in recent times. This is
evident in the celebration of the international day of the disabled persons on
the 3rd of December every year by the United Nations Organization.
The UNO tried to create more awareness about the disabled by declaring 1991 the
international year of the disabled persons and the adoption of what it called
the decade of disabled persons (1993 – 2002).
The attention being given to the
handicapped is reflection of the attempt by every individual, federal, state
government and even the international bodies to make life meaningful to
everyone irrespective of his/her handicapping condition. In order to achieve
this the United Nations in its world programme of action, recommends that children
with special educational needs should be integrated as much as possible into
ordinary schools.
Integration or mainstreaming or open
education is therefore the process of educating all learners irrespective of
their handicapping conditions along with their normal peers.
The handicapped children who from part
of the country’s population needs to interact socially in all spheres of life
as others do. The fact therefore remains that the handicapped cannot live
wholly on their own without having to interact with their normal peers. This is
why advocates of integration claim that integration is very necessary in
acquainting the handicapped with their normal peers in terms of social
interaction, personality development and positive self condept.
Integration of the handicapped and the
normal children in regular schools does not necessarily guarantee positivism in
terms of self concept and social interaction unless conscious efforts are made
to enhance students interaction, the handicapped may be rejected by the normal
students and teachers.
To survive and succeed in a typical
classroom situation, pupil must have relatively good rapport with classmates
and teachers. It has been adequately found by researchers Adeniyi (2000),
Eweniyi and Adenuga (1999), Mba (1995) and Oladiti (1986), that a number of
acceptable social behaviour correlate, highly with academic achievement. For
example independence, attention, persistence on task, self concept, compliance
with teacher’s request and ability to follow instruction are pre-requisite to
school success. The fact that there is a difference in students, there is the
possibility of problems for the handicapped in integrated schools.
It is against this background that this
study seeks to discover their social adjustment problems in integrated schools
and offer useful suggestions.
1.2 Statement of Problem
The handicapped are also referred to as
the special and children who need special education. Special education does not
mean segregation or separation. Integration should be encouraged but efforts
should be made to meet their special needs.
These groups of children who are also
addressed as less privileged ones are faced with problems of learning in
schools due to physical structures, instructional materials and understanding
by the teachers. Many researchers have worked on handicapped especially in
areas of identification, placement, adjustment in society but very little
research work has been on integration and problem of integration.
In Nigeria, myriad of people including
parents, teachers and even the so called highly placed people believe that the
handicapped interpersonal relationship with normal individual is tantamount to
waste of time and energy because of their handicapping condition and difficult
in academic achievement. Even the handicapped themselves feel reluctant to
attend social functions in schools because they feel that normal children will
discriminate against them. With this on their minds when they come to school,
they try to live in isolation and at the end, they all lose what each group can
offer to the other advancement. This study therefore attempt to analyse the
adjustment problems of pupils with disability in Lagos State and offers
necessary counselling.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The study seeks to do the following:
i.
To identify the social adjustment problems encountered by
the handicapped in mainstreamed/integrated schools.
ii.
To bring into focus the attitude of the normal students
towards the handicapped in integrated schools.
iii.
After identifying the problems encountered by these children
through this investigation, the research work seeks to counsel the subject
based on this problems and study if there will be any significant difference,
suggest ways by which those concerned with the administration of the integrated
schools could influence the normal peers in developing positive attitudes
towards the handicapped.
iv.
To bring into focus the need by the government to embark on
public enlightenment programmes to educate the populace on the need to accept
the handicapped as worthy members of the schools and the larger society in
which they find themselves.
1.4 Research Questions
i.
Is there any significant difference between the social
interaction level of the physically handicapped children and normal children in
integrated schools?
ii.
Is there any significant difference between self concept of
the physically handicapped children and that of the normal school children?
iii.
Is there any significant difference between the academic
performance of handicapped children and the normal children in integrated
schools?
iv.
Is there any significant difference in vocational choice
between the physically handicapped and the normal children?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
i.
There is no significant difference between the social
interaction level of the physically handicapped children and normal children in
integrated schools.
ii.
There is no significant difference between self concept of
the physically handicapped children and normal school children.
iii.
There is no significant difference between the academic
performance of handicapped children and the normal children in integrated
schools.
iv.
There is no significant difference in vocational choice
between the physically handicapped and the normal children.
1.6 Significance of the Study
The study will enlighten teachers both
general and specialists, parents of both groups, the children themselves and
the general public on the need to solve the problem of social interaction among
the handicapped and the normal children so as to give both groups a sense of
togetherness. It will suggest ways of educating the handicapped through active
social interaction.
Education cannot be meaningful until
all children, their handicapped condition not withstanding co-operate and do
things together and actively interact socially.
To be socially matured, the handicapped
would require a pre-requisite body of information about social customs and
habits.
It is the aim of the study to identify
and highlight the psychological problems faced by the handicapped by
investigating into their social interaction and adjustment, personality
development, academic performance and vocational opportunities. This is to make
not only educational but also the general public aware of the adjustment
problems encountered by this category of children in their midst, Biller (1978)
states that:
“The extent to
which the child with handicapping condition becomes a successful participating
member of the real world is in direct proportion to the degree to which he is
accepted by his family, his school, his community so that he is capable of
accepting himself as a worthy person”.
The study will assist in remediating
the psychological doubt and social problems by warding off the child’s
mistrust, shame, doubt, guilt, inferiority, Identity, confusion, isolation,
stagnation and despair.
The study will identify and highlight
the adjustment problems of the physically handicapped learners and get them
integrated into normal society to be able to interact with the normal children,
encourage their developing attitude towards their social behaviour, personality
and achievement.
1.7 Delimitation/Scope of the Study
The handicapped refers to the problems
and difficulties a person encounter because a physical disability or
behavioural characteristics marks him or her as different from other
individuals. Therefore, handicapped is an umbrella word that encompasses the
physically handicapped, the visually impaired (blind), the learning impaired
(deaf) the learning disabled/slow learners, the mentally retarded, behaviour
disorder/emotionally disturbed and the exceptional children (gifted and
talented).
Since the handicapped is a broad word
including the above mentioned persons, the researcher was not be able to cover
all the area mentioned above, putting into consideration the time at the
disposal of the researcher to accomplish the research work.
For the purpose of this study, the
research was restricted to the physically handicapped only.
The aspect of the adjustment problems
covered:
i.
Social interaction
ii.
Self concept
iii.
Academic performance
iv.
Vocational opportunity
1.8 Definition of Terms
i.
Integration: Is the process of
educating all students irrespective of their handicapping condition along with
their no handicapped peers. In this study, integration means mixing normal and
handicap pupils in the same school.
ii.
Adjustment: Denga (1986)
Harmony congruence or a goodness of fit between an individual and standards
against which an individual is adjusted. Adjustment in this study refers to the
ability of an handicap to cope with any situation.
iii.
Adjustment
Disorder:
A mental disorder that occurs as a maladaptive reaction to an episode of
psychological, social or physical stress. In this study, adjustment disorder
means inability of an individual to cope with psychological reactions and/or
social physical stress in an environment.
iv.
Handicap: The problems and
difficulties a person encounters because of physical disability or behavioural
characteristic makes him or her different from others.
v.
Disability: Is a physical
problem that limits a person ability to perform certain tasks that most other
people can perform.
vi.
Hearing impairment: Are those in whom
the sense of hearing is non functional for the ordinary purpose of life.
vii.
Visually impaired
(Blind):
Are those who cannot read and write print after all optical corrective measures
have been taken.
viii.
The learning
disabled:
Is one who exhibits one or more deficits in the essential learning process of
perception, conceptualization, language memory, attention and impulse control
(Crownin, 1978).
ix.
Personality: Is the total
aggregate of configuration of an individual’s unique characteristics and modes
or behaviour which include his internal mediating state. In this study,
personality means total pattern of an individual ways of life.
x.
Special Education: The education of
children and adults who have learning difficulties because of different sort of
handicaps.
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