CHAPTER ONE

1.0 FACTORS AFFECTING THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF CHILDREN

WITH PHYSICAL IMPAIRMENT.

2.0 INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the background of the study and statement of the problem. It also presents
the purpose of the study, study objectives and questions. Further, it focuses on the significance of
the study, limitations as well as definitions of terms

2.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In world over, education is a right for each individual as it is a means of enhancing the well-
being and quality of life. As such, every individual regardless of race, disability, personal
circumstance or capacity, has a right of access to and participation in education system without
any restrictions or hindrance and learners with physical impairments are no exception to receive
education.
The term physical disabilities refer to a wide variety of conditions that may interfere with a
child’s ability to perform everyday activities. Such conditions include problems with muscles,
such as muscular dystrophy; problems involving the central nervous system, such as cerebral
palsy; problems with the structure of the skeleton, such as Spinal bifida or missing limbs; and
health problems, such as cystic fibrosis and heart disorders. These conditions are diagnosed by
medical specialists, often working with teams of experts in education and physical therapy. For
some children, physical impairments are simply structural or health problems that do not require
special educational facilities or services. For other children, however, the physical disabilities
may interfere with their ability to walk, write, speak, or take care of their personal needs. Still
others may be able to do all of these things but may not be able to accomplish one or more of
them easily therefore they may need more time or special assistance for certain school activities.

Historically, special residential schools for pupils with physical impairments were developed in
Europe and the United States in the 19th century, but most of these schools had closed by the
1970s. At that time, many children with physical disabilities in the United States attended classes
at special education centers in their community school system. These schools were specially

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designed to eliminate stairs, narrow doorways, and other barriers to students in wheelchairs, and
to provide a concentration of specialists in one building. Today, however, a higher number of
conventional school buildings are designed to be “barrier-free.” Many students with physical
disabilities attend their regular neighborhood schools where they receive the same social and
academic benefits as students without disabilities. Specialists travel to those schools to provide
whatever special services and equipment the students may need.

However, this is not the case in most developing countries including Zambia as the provision of
special education to pupils with physical impairments is still backward. Most of the school
buildings are not physically accessible to learners with physical impairments and the special
services and equipment that are needed by pupils are rarely provided and this has negatively
affected the academic performance of pupils with physical impairments at school

Thus, physical impairments pose a number of academic challenges on the affected individuals or
pupils. Mobility and motor impairments are some of the factors that affect the academic
performance of pupils with physical impairment. Most learners with physical impairments have
mobility and motor skills difficulties which negatively affect the way they perform academically
as well as the social interaction with peers. A good example would be a physical disability like
cerebral palsy which according to Lewis (1987:269) means brain paralysis. It is a disability that
affects movement and body position. The impact of cerebral palsy on learning, is that of fine
motor skills as well as movement, these pupils have problems with muscle movement as a result
their walk is quite clumsy making it difficult for them to move from one class to another. Apart
from this, handwriting is another major problem due to poor motor skills, as one cannot hold and
write as expected making it difficult for the teacher to understand what the child has written.
Motor impairment is a disability affecting the ability to control muscles movement, which often
limits mobility. Examples include Cerebral palsy, arthritis, Paralysis, limbs loss and reduced
functions of one or more limbs. The impact of these conditions on learning, development and
participation vary from child to child. Most children with motor impairment will also experience
difficulties in social interaction with other children, with attention as well as with their cognitive
and language development

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2.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Despite the efforts being made to improve the performance of physically impaired pupils, their
performance is still not impressive. They are required to perform similar tasks with those that are
not physically impaired. Unless there is sufficient investigation on the factors that affect the
academic performance of physical impaired pupils, this trend will continue and hence prevent
them from accessing higher education, better jobs and more comfortable lives after school. The
barriers to learning, development and participation children with physical impairments face vary
from one child to another. If these barriers are not addressed properly, children will not be able
to reach their full academic, social, emotional and physical potential. Barriers may therefore be
experienced temporarily or permanently depending on how effective these are addressed and
removed. Therefore, the study sought to identify factors that affect the academic performance of
pupils with physical disabilities

2.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of the study is to find out the factors that affect the academic performance of pupils
with physical impairments.

2.4 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

2.4.1 GENERAL OBJECTIVE

The study is aimed at investigating the factors that affect the academic performance of pupils
with physical impairments

2.4.2 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

Specific objectives are:

1. To identify the factors that contribute to poor academic performance of pupils with
physical impairments

2. To find out the challenges that teachers face when teaching pupils with physical
impairments.

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 3. To investigate the measures that has been put in place to mitigate factors that affect the
academic performance.

2.5 STUDY QUESTIONS

1. What factors affect the academic performance of pupils with physical impairments?

2. What challenges are faced by teachers when teaching pupils with physical impairments?

3. What interventions have been put in place to mitigate the factors that affect the academic
performance of pupils with physical impairments?

2.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY.

The study aims at highlighting the factors that affects the academic performance of pupils with
physical impairments. It is hoped that the information that will generated from the study will be
useful to policy makers, educational practitioners such as teachers, educational planers,
administrators and shareholders in that it will review the problems encountered by the pupils
with physical impairment in schools and measures that can be put in place to address such
challenges in order to provide quality education to learners with physical impairments. It is also
hoped that the educational planners will come up with workable plans for learners with physical
impairment that will meet their needs. The study could be of significance to other scholars to
conduct further research that could add to the body of existing knowledge.

2.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Impairment-Any temporary or permanent loss or disturbance of a body structure or function,

whether physiological or psychological.

Academic performance- refers to how students deal with their studies and how they cope with or
accomplish different tasks given to them by their teachers.

Physical impairment-physical impairment is a musculoskeletal (involving the joints limbs and

associated muscles) and/or neurological (involving the Central Nervous system i.e. brain, spinal

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cord or peripheral nerves) condition which affects the ability to move or to coordinate controlled
movements

Disability- a restriction or inability to perform an activity in manner or within the range

considered normal for a human being, mostly resulting from impairment.

CHAPTER TWO

3.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

The chapter represents literature review that was relevant to the study. The literature reviewed
was represented according to the objectives which were; to establish factors affecting the
academic performance of pupils with physical impairment

3.1 FACTORS AFFECTING THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF PUPILS WITH

PHYSICAL IMPAIRMENTS

Physical impairments are defined by Marx (1970) as physiological disorder or condition, which
affects the neurological, muscular, skeletal system, respiratory and cardiovascular system. There
is a diverse range of disabilities in this category including such conditions as cerebral palsy,
Spinal bifida, amputations or limb absences, muscular dystrophy, poliomyelitis and juvenile
arthritis.

Research by Gargiulo (2001) revealed that there were several factors that affect academic
performance of pupils with physical impairments. He alluded to these factors mainly as
environmental and individual factors, functional effects of the disability and the type of
disability. In his study, Gargiulo showed that an ineffective learning environment affects the
academic performance of pupils with physical impairments. An ineffective learning environment
is the direct result of the way the teacher sets up the teaching and learning situation. For instance,
pupils with physical impairment typically need several modifications in order to learn. When
teachers are not responsive to these students’ needs they usually do poorly in class?

In addition, Lewis and Door lag (1987) also found out that the learning environment plays a
major role in the academic performance of pupils’ with physical impairments. They noted that

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children with poliomyelitis, which is viral infection that results in the paralysis of the body parts
or system, depending on the parts of the nervous system attacked that these children usually have
small and weak muscles such that they spend much of their time on a wheelchair. This makes
them have challenges in mobility, managing body functions and social interaction in schools. In
most schools there are no provisions of the use of wheelchairs, which may prove to be a problem
for these children to move to and from the classroom. This can lead to pupils not to be given
tasks which may require the use of their body parts hence their concentration in class may reduce
because they will be treated as no body’s in the classroom situation .This triggers lack of
concentration and lowered self-esteem.

Gargiulo (2001) revealed that pupils with physical impairment have problems with motor skills.
Pupils with physical impairment have limitation in the movement of the arms, hands and fingers
which makes then unable to do school tasks involving writing or manipulating materials without
proper modification. Marx et al (1970) noted that a child with cerebral palsy often have stiffness
and rigidity of muscles, problems in mobility, balance, coordination and body posture. As a
result of having stiff and rigid muscles in their fingers, it was noted that these children find it
difficult to hold a pen or a pencil to perform fine motor skills such as drawing shapes like circles,
triangles and squares

Kirk (1997) in his studies showed that pupils with physical impairment experienced fatigue, pain
and limited stamina, which affected their ability to concentrate and hence their academic
performance. For instance, a pupil with sickle cell anemia which is inherited disorders of
hemoglobin which could result into severe physical disability, sometimes leading to the
permanent use of a wheelchair could cause difficulty in concentration and attacks of pain caused
by anemia could be distracting and could disturb studying as they will be unable to attend fully
to the lesson taught in class.

In addition, how well pupils are able to advocate for themselves can affect their performance.
For example, if the pupil with a physical disability is unable to move his head well and cannot
see what is being written on the board, the pupil should politely ask to be moved. Lack of self-
advocacy skills may result in missing learning and hence poorer school performance.

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CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

4.0 INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the research design that will be used, population, sample size and the sampling
procedure. Further, the instruments for collecting data, procedure for data analysis as well as ethical
consideration will be shown.

4.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

The researcher will use a case study design to investigate on the factors that affect the academic
performance of pupils with physical impairments. The researcher will physically go to the respondents
and administered questionnaires and conducted interviews. This will help the researcher collect data
which is strong in reality as it comes from a primary source. This type of design generalizes the
findings in detail because it gives a true reflection of what is obtaining in the field.

4.2 TARGET POPULATION

The target population in this study will comprised of the teachers, pupils and Head teacher of the two
learning institutions in Lusaka, Chongwe district namely: Kasisi Special Unit and Ndeke Special Unit.

4.3 SAMPLE SIZE

The sample will comprise of 15 respondents: 3 teachers from Kasisi Special Unit, 3 teachers from
Ndeke Special Unit, 4 pupils from Ndeke Special Unit, 3 pupils from Kasisi Special Unit and 2 Head
teachers.

4.4 INSTRUMENTS FOR DATA COLLECTION

The researcher will use questionnaires to collect data from teachers and the structured interview will
administered to the Head teacher. These instruments will be used because they will help the researcher
gather data easily due to the large sample as well as gave a true reflection of what was obtaining on the
ground.

4.5 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE

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The researcher will start by getting the letter of authority from the Department of Special Education
which will gave the researcher the permission to go ahead with the research. The researcher personally
will go to the two schools on different days. Before carrying out any research, researcher will start by
getting permission from the school Head teacher. Then the researcher will go ahead and administered
the questionnaires to the teachers which will be collected four days after administering. The researcher
will also conduct structured interviews to the Head teacher that will give a true reflection of what will be
obtained on the ground.

4.6 DATA ANALYSIS

Data will be analyzed through using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Tables and pie
charts will be used to qualify quantitative statistics. On the other hand, qualitative data will be analyzed
using thematic where the data will analyzed using themes.

5.0 RESEARCH TIME FRAME

The fieldwork is planned to last foe one whole after the approval of the research proposal. Most of the
field work will be done during the holiday because during the term the researcher will busy with
teaching and because it is difficult to get permission from the school during the term. The eight months
will be used to interview informants and process data. Four months after the field work will be write the
research and submit it.

6.0 BUDGET

This research will require a budget of K1500.00. This money will be used to meet the travelling
expenses. Stationary, printing of the research and meet the unplanned expenses which are unavoidable
in any field.

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7.0 REFERENCES

Egilson, S.T., & Trausdottir, R. (2009). Participation Students with Physical Disabilities in the School
Environment. American Journal of Occupational Therapy 63, 264-27

Gargiulo, R.M.,(2001). Special Education in Contemporary Society: An Introduction to Exceptionality.

USA: Wadsworth Thompson Learning.

Kirk, S. A. et al (1997). (8th ed). Educating Exceptional Children. New York: Houghton Mifflin
Company.

Lewis, R.B., & Doolag, D. H. (1987). Teaching Special Students in the Mainstream. New York: Merril
Publishing Company.

Mark, M. H. (1970). Learning Interaction. London:Collier Mcmillan Limited.

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 APPENDIX 1
ZAMBIAN OPEN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL EDUCATION

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS ON THE FACTORS AFFECTING THE

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF PUPILS WITH PHYSICAL IMPAIRMENT

SERIAL#..............................

INTRODUCTION

Dear respondents,

I am a student from the Zambian Open University in the School of

Education carrying out an educational research on the factors that affect the
academic performance of pupils with physical impairments: A case of
Kasisi Special Unity and Ndeke Special Unity in Chongwe District.

You have been randomly selected to participate in this study. Please be assured that
your responses to this questionnaire will be treated with strict confidence as this
research is only for academic purpose.

INSTRUCTIONS

Tick the appropriate answer, ensuring that you only tick one best answer for
each question.

Write brief responses in the spaces provided.

Do not write your name on the questionnaire.

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SECTION A: BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Tick appropriately and/or fill in the blanks.

Gender

Male { }

Female { }

Age

20-25years old { }

25-30 years old { }

30-35 years old { }

Above 45 years old { }

Are you trained in special education?

Yes { } No { }

Child Characteristics

Indicate numbers of pupils in your class according to the nature or types of physical impairments

Type Male Female Total

Neurological

Skeletal

Muscular

Total

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SECTIONB: Factors affecting the Academic performance of pupils with physical
impairments.

1. What would you say has been the academic performance of children with physical impairment
in the recent years?

Excellent { }

Very good { }

Good { }

Poor { }

2. Does the severity of physical impairments negatively affect the academic performance of
pupils?

Yes { }

No { }

Don’t know { }

3. Does the Availability of teaching and learning materials positively affect the performance of
pupils?

Yes { }

No { }

Don’t know { }

4. Is the Learning environment conducive to teaching the physically impaired at your school?

Yes { }

No { }

5. If no in question 4, give reason(s)

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............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................

6. Does lack of trained teachers in special education influence the academic performance of
pupils with physical impairments?

Yes { }

No { }

7. Does frequent absence of pupils with physical impairments negatively influence their
academic performance at your school?

Yes { }

No { }

8. State other factors that affect the academic performance of pupils with physical impairments
in your school?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Section D: What challenges are faced by teachers teaching pupils with physical
impairments?

9. Do you have any challenges that you face when teaching children with physical
impairment.

Yes ( ) No ( )

10. If yes in question 8, what are the challenges?

______________________________________________________________________

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______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

11. What do you think should be done to overcome the challenges mentioned in Q9?

Section E: What interventions have been put in place to mitigate the factors that affect the
academic performance of pupils with physical impairments?

12. Which of the following implements are commonly used by pupils with physical impairments
in school?

Wheelchair { }

Crutches { }

Callipers and crutches { }

Others specify______________________________________________________________

13. What interventions have been put in place to mitigate the factors that affect the academic
performance of pupils with physical impairments?

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

14. What do you think should be done to improve the academic performance of pupils with
physical impairment in your school?

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............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................

THE END

Thank you for your participation

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 APPENDIX 2

ZAMBIAN OPEN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL EDUCATION

INTERVIEW SCHEDULE

INTERVIEWER...... MWEENE ITAH

LOCATION.............. LUSAKA-CHONGWE

INTERVIEWEES....... HEADTEACHERS

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1What factors affect the academic performance of pupils with physical impairments in your
school?

2. What challenges are faced by your teachers when teaching pupils with physical
impairments?

3. What interventions have been put in place to mitigate the factors that affect the academic
performance of pupils with physical impairments?

Thank you for your participation

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