The Availability of Instructional Media for Teaching Mentally Retarded Students in Nyanza Region, Kenya

Learners with mental retardation pose a unique problem to the education system, one not presented by any other exceptionality. In view of the challenges and limitations of these learners, modification of both social and educational environment is fundamental in-order to attain effective schooling for them. One of the best proven medium of teaching these special learners is the use of various instructional resources. The success or failure of learners with mental retardation is directly linked to the adequacy of these resources. This study thus aimed to establish the availability of instructional resources in special schools in the Nyanza region of Kenya. Simple random sampling was used to select a sample of 28 respondents (teachers and principals) for the study. Data was collected from the respondent using three instruments: the questionnaire for teachers, observation checklist and interview guide. The data collected were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively by the use of both descriptive and inferential statistics. According to the results, 43.6% of the respondents indicated that the listed visual resources were not available. 26.9% of the respondents indicated weighing scales and communication board were inadequate while 73.1% expressed the opinion that they were not available. Charts and picture boards were indicated by 65.4% as inadequate while substitution table was highly unavailable according to 88.5% of the respondents. Only 17.3% of the respondents said that the graphic materials were adequate while 34.1% indicated that they were not available. 91.2% indicate that the Audio-visual materials were not available while 8.8% indicated they were available but inadequate. The findings thus demonstrate that almost all basic instructional resources were either inadequate or not available in the special schools. The author recommends that there should be collaborative effort between the government and the schools in helping provide funds for the purchase of sufficient and up-to-date instructional resources for these special schools. Keywords: Instructional resources, Special schools, Mentally retarde