Factors related to support provided by preschool personnel for parents rearing children with special needs: Focus on communicating about the child's developmental problems

Abstract

Objectives Developmental disorders can hinder the acquisition of cognitive function, verbal ability, gross motor skills, and social skills. Therefore, it is necessary to detect them as soon as possible and to consider methods of providing support. Under these circumstances, preschool teachers are responsible for facilitating the support system. This study aimed to describe and classify the support provided by preschool personnel to parents of children with special needs, and to consider the measures necessary to promote support for such parents.Methods Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to authorized preschool principals and teachers. The questionnaire for principals addressed facility factors within the preschool support system, and that for preschool teachers addressed the teaching factors related to their knowledge and attitude, collaboration among those inside and outside the facility, and support for parents of children with special needs. In addition, we examined the status of support provided to parents for each of the children with special needs picked up by a preschool teacher. To investigate the factors related to the implementation of support to parents, we conducted a multiple logistic regression analysis with the facility and preschool teaching factors as independent variables, and the presence or absence of preschool teachers' support for parents from as a dependent variable.Results Overall, 10.8% of the children in the surveyed preschools had special needs. Among the surveyed principals and teachers, 73.4% responded that they provided support to parents by "developing a healthy relationship," while 39.5% reported that they provided support by "communicating about the child's developmental problems." In the generalized regression analysis on 535 children with special needs excluding missing values, factors associated with "communicating about the child's developmental problems" were "reflecting on the support that was offered in the teacher-parent conference," "collaborating with other professional staff to a high degree," and "being confident in providing support to parents."Conclusion This study revealed factors related to providing support for parents of children of concern. The findings suggested that, to promote the provision of support for parents and to establish an early support system for children with developmental disorders, it is necessary to examine ways to conduct a support conference to review actions of preschool teachers retrospectively and to strengthen cooperation with other institutions. It might be effective to solve problems related to developmental disorders at the preschool level through the Community Association for Supporting Developmental Disorders.