Experiences of parents of children with special needs: educational services, challenges and recommendations from parents' perspectives

Parents of children with special needs in Nigeria are faced with several challenges. In most cases, decisions are taken without their active involvement, despite them being the primary carers for their children with special needs. This research utilised a qualitative research design with fifteen participants to understand parents' perspectives about the educational services provided for their children with special needs. Only parents of children diagnosed with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Down syndrome and intellectual disability were involved. An inductive thematic analysis approach was used. The findings revealed five themes that describe the experiences of parents of children with special needs in managing their children's care. Parents stated that their children with special needs still encounter discrimination and segregation despite being in mainstream schools. Parents highlighted several challenges, including inadequately trained professionals, poor public sensitisation, the government's lack of attention/ambition and the unavailability of specific assistive devices. The participants suggested that training and retraining of professionals in special education, mass sensitisation and government funding/scholarship are factors that can mitigate some of these challenges. In conclusion, parents play essential roles in the lives of their children with special needs; if help must be provided, parents should be rightly considered.