Accessibility Of The Quality Early Childhood Care And Education For The Children With Disabilities: Practices And Constraints

ABSTRACT

The rights to the quality ECCE services for all children have formally received international commitments and acknowledgments. It is evident that good-quality ECCE is important for all children‟s learning and development. For the young children with disabilities (CWDs), the quality ECCE enables early identification and intervention of impairments and for certain CWDs, it facilitates transition into mainstream schools. The current study investigated the accessibility of the ECCE for the CWDs, focusing on practices and constraints. This study was a qualitative inquiry underpinned by phenomenological design. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, observations and documentary reviews. The sample of 38 study participants was purposefully chosen and reflected a number of education stakeholders. The study established that the available ECCE services for the CWDs were ineffective due to the lack of identification and assessment practices; lack of nutrition and medical services; shortage of qualified personnel to handle the CWDs; insufficiency of potential teaching/learning materials; lack of professionals such as educational counselors and speech-language therapists to support young CWDs; lack of parental support; and inaccessible schools‟ environment. A few CWDs in the study area were enrolled in school. However, sustaining that vital education was not easy. Poverty, parents‟ ignorance and negative attitudes, unskilled and unqualified teachers, inappropriate instructional resources, inappropriate school environment and infrastructure, transport problems, inadequate funding, and lack of policy of ECCE for the CWDs created a very difficult learning environment. Lastly, education providers in ECCE for the CWDs lacked the capacity to handle the CWDs. Among the recommendations were on improvement and modification of ECCE for the CWDs. The study recommended similar studies on a large area for a wider understanding of the reality and practical–oriented solution search. The overall conclusion is that the current context of the ECCE for CWDs was more inhibitive than facilitative and that the future for the ECCE for the CWDs depended on the extent to which such context is improved.