Empowerment of parents in early intervention of developmental challenges of pre-school children in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Abstract

Through document analysis, one-on-one interviews with parents, and observations the researcher aimed to explore early intervention in pre-school children with learning difficulties in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape. The researcher set out to determine whether parents were aware of the importance of early intervention in addressing learning difficulties in their children, what support existed to help parents give support to children with learning difficulties, and how support could be improved to enable parents to help their children. This study found that parents in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape needed support that would enable them to provide early intervention for their children with learning difficulties. The study also showed that parents were aware of the importance of early intervention to help their children with learning difficulties. Most parents were receiving support, but there was room for improvement in the support that they were receiving. Flowing from this, the study also found that parents needed different forms of support, e.g. emotional and financial support. Based on the findings, recommendations were made. Recommendations were aimed at improving support for parents, so they can provide successful early intervention for their pre-school children, e. g. through the creation of open channels of communication between parents and other role players, like government departments and service providers. Recommendations were also made for future research, e. g. research into ways to create open channels of communication.