Parental Attitudes Towards Children With Hearing Impairment And Academic Performance: A Case Of Kambui School For The Deaf, Githunguri District, Kiambu County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

In recent decades there has been a proliferation of studies on the empirical aspect of the parental attitudes on academic development of children. Results show that family socioeconomic levels, typology characteristics, a suitable home environment and parents' positive attitude on a child are factors affecting the academic development of the vast majority of children. Apparently, parents‟ positive attitude towards their children and family support increase pupils‟ confidence in their abilities and awakens the child‟s interest in learning thus improving their academic performance. The present study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between parental attitudes towards children with hearing impairment and parent‟s level of education, occupation, age, marital status, child‟s birth order and the number of children in a family. The sample comprised of 65 parents of children with hearing impairments in Kambui School for the Deaf in the Nursery, infant, class one, class two and class three. The purpose of this study was to establish factors that influence parental attitudes towards their children who are hearing impaired in Kambui School for the deaf in Githunguri District, Kiambu County. The study was guided by Zanna and Rempel component theory and Brofenbrenner Ecological Model. The literature reviewed revealed that attitudes play an important role in how an individual behaves towards another. This intended behavior also affects the outcome of the person receiving it. Descriptive study design was employed. The dependent variable was parental attitudes towards children with hearing impairment while parent‟s age, level of education, marital status, occupation, number of children and the child‟s birth order were the independent variables. Purposeful and convenient sampling technique was used to select the sample of the study. A questionnaire was used to collect the required data. To measure the reliability of the instruments, split-half method and Cronchbach‟s Alpha methods were used. The validity of the instrument was measured using content validity. Frequencies and Pearson‟s correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that parent‟s age, marital status and child‟s birth order do not influence parents attitude towards a child who is hearing impaired at P> 0.05. However, parents‟ level of education, occupation and the number of children parents have, influence the parents attitude towards a child with hearing impairment at P