Socio Emotional Adjustment of Children with Physical Handicap in Selected Primary Schools in Ugunja District, Kenya

ABSTRACT This study is on socio-emotional adjustment of children with physical handicap in selected primary Schools in Ugunja District, Kenya. Its purpose was to test the hypothesis of no significant difference in the level of socio-emotional adjustment between the teachers’ and the Pupils’ responses, Validate the theory of Psychosocial Theory of Personality Development advanced by Erick Erickson (1950) and to generate new information based on the findings of this study. The objectives of the study were to determine the demographic characteristics of the respondents, level of socio-emotional adjustment of children with physical handicap and significant difference in the level of socio-emotional adjustments between the teachers’ and pupils’ responses. It adopted ex-post facto and descriptive comparative research designs. A researcher’s made questionnaires were administered to a sample size of 200 for a population of 400 respondents. The frequency and percentage distribution was used to determine objective one, mean was used to obtain the second objective while a t-test was used to determine Objective three. The study found out that the level of socio--emotional adjustment of children with physical handicap is high, implying that children with physical handicap are fully capable of learning in the regular classrooms and interacting successfully with their non disabled peers. It further recommended that both teachers and non-handicapped children should provide them with security, love, warmth and acceptance in school in order to intensify their socio-emotional adjustment.