Empowering Mothers of Children with Special Needs in Early Childhood Inclusion

Abstract

Parents of young children with special needs in inclusionare among key stakeholders influencing the effectiveness of inclusion. There issignificant evidence to suggest, however, that difficulties they encounterthroughout inclusion hinder parents to perform their role as partners. Thissuggests that their role in their child’s education would be highly limitedunless their needs resulting from the challenges they face are not met. Meetingtheir needs would empower them in fulfilling their roles and increase thesuccess of inclusion. This study examines the development and evaluation of aneeds-based training program designed for the mothers of children with special needs enrolled in inclusive preschools in NorthCyprus. Aiming to support them in overcoming the difficulties theyexperience throughout inclusion by empowering them as partners, present studyemploys a mixed methods approach with a dominant qualitative strand. Findingsof the study suggest the program have positive contributions to participatingmothers and their children.