Missed Appointments at a Child Development Centre and Barriers to Access Special Needs Services for Children in Klang Valley, Malaysia: A Mixed Methods Study

Attending appointments is vital for children with special needs, as such appointments involve long-term interdisciplinary care to ensure continuity of care and improve health and well-being. This study was performed to determine the prevalence of missed clinic appointments and identify the factors among those who have ever missed appointments and barriers of access to children’s special needs services at the Child Development Centre (CDC) at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC). Moreover, suggestions for improvement from the caregivers’ perspectives were explored. This is an explanatory sequential mixed methods study among caregivers of children with developmental disabilities aged up to 17 years old. Of 197 caregivers, 62 (31.5%) had missed clinic appointments. Forgetfulness was the most frequently cited reason. The bi-variable analysis showed significant differences in missed appointment rates by gender of caregivers and duration of follow-up. The final logistic regression model demonstrated that, when combined with the effect of being a male caregiver as an independent variable, follow-up duration of more than 6 years increased 2.67 times the risk of missing an appointment. Caregivers’ perceived barriers were transportation, caregiver, child and healthcare services factors. Policies and strategic plans should be focused on key findings from these factors to improve appointment adherence and accessibility to services for children with special needs.

Listen to Me: Parents’ Satisfaction with Special Needs Services in Syria – A Descriptive and Exploratory Study

Parents’ involvement in their child’s educational and therapy choices is an important aspect of their therapy. This involvement may be related to their satisfaction with their child’s service providers’ direct child services family-related involvement. Additionally, civil unrest may influence parents’ satisfaction. For example, the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011, has influenced families with children in schools, and specifically children who have disabilities. The purpose of this descriptive and exploratory study was to investigate parents’ perceptions of current services provided in Syria for their children with disabilities, and to identify the services provided to Syrian children with ASD and other developmental disabilities. A total of 466 parents completed the study’s survey, with about half of the participants reporting that their child received early intervention and fewer that their child received other therapies (e.g., speech, behavioral, counseling). Parents also reported feeling unwelcome to contribute to their child’s individualized education program (IEP), and were not satisfied with the services their child received. In addition, some demographic factors, such as place of residence, the child’s current age, the child’s diagnosis, the child’s attending age at school, and which program the child was enrolled in, increased the parents’ satisfaction level. Implications and future research are discussed.

Historical Overview of Adult Gifted Education in the United States

Giftedness is not present only in childhood. It persists for a lifetime. However, even though most colleges/universities provide special needs services for appropriate students, most if not all college faculty might not believe it necessary to provide any accommodations for gifted/talented students either at undergraduate or at the graduate level. In order to accommodate one or more gifted/talented students in a class, faculty need to rethink their pedagogy and assessment strategies. At the college/university level accommodations are usually absent because faculty do not perceive a need to do so in their courses. In courses for pre-service teachers, some instructors provide practices in courses including how to teach gifted and talented students in basic education settings for K-12 grades. This chapter presents a brief overview of gifted and talented education in the United States focusing more specifically on gifted and talented at the university (or adult) level.

Historical Overview of Adult Gifted Education in the United States

Giftedness is not present only in childhood. It persists for a lifetime. However, even though most colleges/universities provide special needs services for appropriate students, most if not all college faculty might not believe it necessary to provide any accommodations for gifted/talented students either at undergraduate or at the graduate level. In order to accommodate one or more gifted/talented students in a class, faculty need to rethink their pedagogy and assessment strategies. At the college/university level accommodations are usually absent because faculty do not perceive a need to do so in their courses. In courses for pre-service teachers, some instructors provide practices in courses including how to teach gifted and talented students in basic education settings for K-12 grades. This chapter presents a brief overview of gifted and talented education in the United States focusing more specifically on gifted and talented at the university (or adult) level.