PARENTS AND TEACHERS’ INFLUENCE ON SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS IN OYO STATE

Abstract

This study investigated the Parents and Teachers’ Influence on Social and Emotional Development of Children with Special Needs in North East and North West Local Government Area of Oyo State. Studies on different areas of development of special needs children abound but on social and emotional development of children with special needs, few have been researched. Social and emotional development of children with special needs was well captured. The influence of parents and teachers on social and emotional development of children with special needs was also explained while contribution of parents and teachers towards the social and emotional development of children with special needs was also explored. Four research questions were raised and answered. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select the participants. Four public schools were purposively selected for the study. A total of 200 respondents (teachers and parents) participated. One hundred parents and a hundred teachers were investigated with a structured questionnaire administered to collect data. Descriptive Statistics of Pearson Product Moment Correlation PPMC and regression analysis were used to analyze the data collected. The result revealed that parents and teachers are instrumental in social and emotional development of children with special needs. However, social and emotional development of children with special needs depend largely on the parents’ influence more than the teachers. This therefore, suggests that parents need to display positive attitude towards the social and emotional development of children with special needs. It was therefore recommended that parents and teachers should stand up to the task of helping children with special needs improve on their social and emotional development.