The purpose of this study was to look at the factors that lead to disruption in the adoption of special needs children. Families that adopt special needs children may or may not be aware that they need post adoption services and may be reluctant to ask for them even when they are experiencing difficulty.

Review of the literature on the currently available services for special needs children and early intervention programs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, supports the fact that early intervention services for young special needs children and their families are very limited. The present study aims at determining the importance of early intervention services for children with special needs and their families. The study also aims to firstly identify the need for establishing more early intervention programs across the country as well as to give suggestions for effective utilization of the presently available services. Secondly, the study focuses on determining the needs o mothers of children with intellectual and physical impairments. Thirdly, the study aims to assess the extent to which the available services are benefiting the special needs children and their families. A descriptive research study was conducted on a sample of 27 mothers of young children with intellectual and physical impairments. Three questionnaires were designed and distributed to obtain information about the following issues: 1) the current early intervention services available for young. special needs children in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries. 2) the background information of the families of the sample. 3) the needs of the mothers in the sample. The data was qualitatively analyzed and interpreted by comparing frequencies and their corresponding percentage values. Results of this study indicated that the majority of the mothers expressed severe and moderate need for more information about their child's impairment; and needed more services and intervention programs for their child. Results from the study also established a relationship between some of the socio-economic background variables and the different categories of needs. Finally, some of the needs of the mothers were met with the early intervention services provided by the centre where the study was conducted. / Inclusive Education / D.Ed.(Special Education)

The number of instructors introducing web-based elements in the course curriculum is growing and students need to be able to access content on the web to participate. As such, a campus website with accessibility design standards for course developers at California State University showed potential to greatly assist in equalizing the educational playing field for students with disabilities.

This study surveyed 107 working college students with varying disabilities. Individual, job, and organizational characteristics were evaluated for their ability to predict job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover cognitions. One area this characteristic that was explored was that of an individual's perception of organizational resources related to legally mandated reasonable accommodations. Using hierarchal regression this study found that self-efficacy, job characteristics, and means-efficacy were key predictors of job satisfaction. Means-efficacy was the only one of these that was a predictor of turnover intentions.

The main aim of this study was to explore the difficulties and limitations preventing social workers from empowering siblings of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) children. Specific attention was given to social workers in the London Borough of Greenwich, United Kingdom and siblings who were in their middle childhood phase of development. Qualitative, applied research of an explorative and descriptive nature was followed. For the purpose of this study, the researcher conducted unstructured in-depth interviews with social workers and the siblings. Six social workers and four siblings were interviewed for this research study. Themes and categories were developed out of data from the unstructured interviews to which the researcher compared and verified it with already existing literature. Conclusions were drawn and recommendations were made from this research study. / Social Work / M.Diac. (Play Therapy)

Child vulnerability is a complex human phenomenon that varies contextually. This thesis explores the views of Iraqw and Datoga residents of Haydom village relating to child vulnerability using a concept analysis. The study is a mixed methods study carried out in three stages. The first stage is a non-empirical qualitative literature review; findings from this stage were used to construct questions for the subsequent stage of the study. The second stage of the study is empirical and qualitative, using a focused ethnographic approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirty-two adults of the Iraqw and Datoga ethnic groups. Five main themes emerged from a thematic analysis of these interviews; 1) antecedents: lack of resources, 2) contributing antecedents: intentional mistreatment, 3) defining attributes: deprivations in a young individual, 4) consequences: losses suffered, and 5) strategies: dealing with deprivation. Informants’ views were used to construct items for a questionnaire, which was administered in the third stage of the study. This quantitative stage involved eighty young adult respondents of the Iraqw and Datoga ethnic groups. The data in the third stage of the study was analysed statistically, and generally supported the findings of the second stage of the study. Significant Haydom findings congruent with the literature include that poverty and parental alcoholism are antecedents for child vulnerability, that fathers may be unreliable and that some children cope by persevering and working hard. Findings in Haydom that differ from the literature include the following: some people perceive large family size as a protective factor handicapped, illegitimate and foster children may be mistreated former wealth may predispose to lacking coping skills children as a resource child vulnerability has potential for deterioration, stasis or improvement informants suggested a limited range of strategies, including institutional care, with little stress on volunteerism unrelated fostering is unusual but acceptable to many people. This study recommends local identification of and advocacy for vulnerable children’s rights, and planning of evidence based but culturally acceptable strategies to help them. / Health Studies / (D.Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies))

The purpose of this study was to explore the views of adults with disabilities and their care providers with regard to extent to which health promotion implementation was facilitated within Protective Workshops across several service areas in South Africa. Quantitative and Qualitative Data was collected via a combination of data collection approaches that included the use of a descriptive survey, a self-administered questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. Structured questionnaires and an interview schedule were used to generate data from both the patient and care provider participants in each of the selected facilities. Participants with disabilities and care providers working in the Protective Workshops were identified and sampled through a multi-stage sampling procedure. Participants from 48 facilities participated in the study. The findings revealed that health promotion in Protective Workshops was cursory and informal. Even though health education was provided whenever the need arose, it was neither individualized nor customized in accordance with reasonable accommodation of people with disabilities. There were provincial differences in terms of the levels of participation and organizational support for people with disabilities. In certain cases bureaucratic obstacles were identified during field work. Results show inconsistency regarding access to equal opportunities for people with disabilities, albeit some agreed to a lesser extent (30.5%), others moderately (21.5%) compared to only 22.6% who agreed, were exceeded by 25% of respondents who completely disagreed to the notion that equal opportunities existed for people with disabilities. The latter was confirmed by care providers. The study recommended an urgent need for the development of inclusive health promotion, the enforcement of the requirements for reasonable accommodation and adherence to policy and legal imperatives. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

Thesis (M Social Work (Social Work))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / An exploratory-descriptive research design together with a qualitative approach was chosen with the purpose of obtaining knowledge of and insight into volunteer management as a function of social work management, using the Cape Town Association for the Physically Disabled as a case study. The motivation for the study stemmed from personal experience of the researcher being employed at the aforementioned organization. The Cape Town Association for the Physically Disabled is a non-government organization which utilizes volunteers for both direct and indirect volunteer work. The goal of the study is to provide a framework to the social workers of the Cape Town Association for the Physically Disabled for the management of volunteers, to enhance developmental social service delivery. The literature review covered the conceptualization, history and nature of volunteer work in social work focusing on the development of volunteerism internationally and in South Africa. This allowed the researcher to conceptualize volunteerism and also get a better understanding of what happens on an international, national and domestic level. The theoretical framework was social development focusing on the ecosystems perspective. The literature review specifically focused on the history of volunteerism, the management of volunteers including the different models of, as well as guidelines for, managing a volunteer programme. The researcher chose to involve social workers at the Cape Town Association for the Physically Disabled since the social workers utilize volunteers, and in so doing also manage these volunteers. The results of the investigation largely confirmed that the Cape Town Association for the Physically Disabled should refine their volunteer programme policy. Furthermore, the results confirmed that the social workers were not all aware of the process of management of volunteers. The research study also recommends the human resources model of management for volunteers to be utilized at the Association. The recommendations were aimed at the management of volunteers in terms of recruitment, selection, training, orientation and supervision of volunteers according to the human resources model of management.

Thesis (MEdPsych (Educational Psychology)--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Since 1994 the South African government has been committed to the transformation of the education system, including higher education. Higher education institutions have been encouraged to include individuals representing groups that had been excluded on the grounds of age, race, gender and, more specifically, students with disabilities. Within this transformation process, some of the biggest challenges higher education institutions face are policy changes, flexible curriculum delivery, alternative assessment procedures, the physical accessibility of the campus and the provision of support services for students with disabilities or special needs. Although policy development is an important stepping-stone, the reality is that proper practice, adequate awareness, and positive attitudes are required to effectively support and accommodate the diverse needs of students with disabilities. The primary objective of this study was to obtain an in-depth understanding of how students with disabilities experience support and barriers to their development at Stellenbosch University. The study was also based upon the assumption that it is important to hear the voices of students with disabilities before any recommendations in terms of the existing strategy can be suggested. This study was conducted by means of qualitative research, and the methods of data collection consisted of individual and focus group interviews as well as a literature review. The research findings may be described as follows: · Students with disabilities experienced both internal and external support and barrier factors and processes that impacted on their development. · Internal support and barrier factors and processes include emotional, behavioural, beliefs, physical and cognitive aspects. · External support and barrier factors and processes include peers, the faculty and department, university accommodation, the classroom and the university. · Four overarching themes that emerged from the data of the participants, namely attitudes and awareness, communication, level of inclusion, and advocacy, were outlined. The findings of the study have important implications for the support practices and training of academic staff and all role players at Stellenbosch University. Recommendations are also made to improve support services and the campus climate at Stellenbosch University to ultimately embrace diversity in order to offer an inclusive environment where the principles of equal opportunities, full participation and non-discrimination are dear to the heart of all the relevant role players involved in teaching, learning, service provision and policy making at Stellenbosch University.

Thesis (MEdPsych (Educational Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / The research focuses on the needs of Xhosa-speaking learners with Down syndrome. The needs of these learners are not known by the service providers. Different organisations base their service delivery to these communities on the needs of learners with Down syndrome from other cultures. It was therefore imperative for this study to discover the needs of Xhosa-speaking learners with Down syndrome from a disadvantaged background. The study involves a case study of two Xhosa speaking learners with Down syndrome. A major aim was to depict the quality of life of the learners with Down syndrome. This was done from an ecosystemic perspective. In the case study the needs of these two learners with Down syndrome in a Xhosa community are portrayed through the voices of their parents, educators, neighbours, and the two learners with Down syndrome. The following means of data production were used: interviews and observations. The parents, siblings of the learners with Down syndrome, and the learners with Down syndrome were seen as experts in the process.