Education of the Gifted/Talented Students in Nigeria: A Justification

Gifted and talented individuals are cognitively prepared and ready for advanced learning. Educating this peculiar individuals has a lot of benefits for the individuals, the society and the country at larger. This paper focused on the justification for gifted/talented education. It x-rayed the need for nurturing environment for gifted/talented learners with a view to bringing out the best from the individuals and the society. It also delved into the advantages of educating gifted/talented learners in our country. It was concluded that any attention given to the education of gifted and talented student in Nigeria is an investment that will definitely be rewarding and beneficial to the country in the nearest future. As a result, it was recommended that governments, non-governmental organizations and philanthropists should be actively involved in this task. Keywords: Education, gifted, talented, justificatio

SPORT PARTICIPATION AND FACILITIES AS PREDICTORS OF MARKETABLE SKILLS IN SPORT FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITY IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

It is alarming to suspect that no University has provision for people with disability in terms of accessible sport facilities and motivation for participation as perceived by Nigerian University students with disabilities. This was conceptualized as a great discrimination, exclusion and wastage of potentials especially for economic skill in sport. To provide empirical prove of the interest and potential of students with disabilities in marketable skills in sport, a survey of 60 purposively selected students with disability were carried out in three Universities to investigate how participation and access to facilities predict their marketable skills in sport. Data was collected using Sport Marketable Skills Scale (SMSS- reliability = .071) and Facilities and Participation Questionnaire (FPQ- reliability = .80). Data collected was analyzed using multiple regression statistic and findings show that participation and@ facilities are significant predictor (F(2, 57) = 186.34 and p < .05) and accounted for 48% of marketable skills in sport among the students. It was recommended that sport for persons with disability be established in the Universities consequently, sport facilities be expanded to ensure access and participation of persons with disabilities so as to give them optimum development of marketable and social skills advocated in the global inclusion

Education of the Gifted/Talented Students in Nigeria: A Justification

Gifted and talented individuals are cognitively prepared and ready for advanced learning. Educating this peculiar individuals has a lot of benefits for the individuals, the society and the country at larger. This paper focused on the justification for gifted/talented education. It x-rayed the need for nurturing environment for gifted/talented learners with a view to bringing out the best from the individuals and the society. It also delved into the advantages of educating gifted/talented learners in our country. It was concluded that any attention given to the education of gifted and talented student in Nigeria is an investment that will definitely be rewarding and beneficial to the country in the nearest future. As a result, it was recommended that governments, non-governmental organizations and philanthropists should be actively involved in this task. Keywords: Education, gifted, talented, justificatio

SOCIO-PERSONAL FACTORS AS PREDICTORS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT OF EXCEPTIONAL STUDENTS IN IBADAN, NIGERIA

This study is an investigation into the influence of some social and personal factors on psychological adjustment of high ability students in Ibadan, Nigeria. Expo-facto design of correlation type was used for the study. A sample of 160 high ability students in selected schools in Ibadan participated in the study. Four research questions guided the study. Five instruments were used for this study namely Peer Pressure and Popularity Scale, Parenting Style Inventory, and Self-Esteem Scale, Psychological Adjustment Scale, and Self-Concept Scale. There were correlations between parenting styles, peer acceptance, self-concept, and psychological adjustment. The four independent variables made significant contributions to psychological adjustment of the participants with parenting styles (b= 1.45, 7.356; p&lt;0.05), peer acceptance (b= -1.67, 6.451, p&lt;0.05) and self-concept (b= 1.23, 6.872, p&lt;0.05) while parenting styles was found to be the most potent predictor of psychological adjustment of the participants (b= 1.45, 7.356; p&lt;0.05). When the four variables combined they yielded very strong effect on psychological adjustment i.e. an F-ratio value of 12.207 at 0.05 level i.e. (F (4, 155) = 12.207; p&lt;0.05). Recommendations made include the need for parents to imbibe parenting styles which will encourage their children to adjust well to emotional and psychological issues

SOCIO-PERSONAL FACTORS AS PREDICTORS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT OF EXCEPTIONAL STUDENTS IN IBADAN, NIGERIA

This study is an investigation into the influence of some social and personal factors on psychological adjustment of high ability students in Ibadan, Nigeria. Expo-facto design of correlation type was used for the study. A sample of 160 high ability students in selected schools in Ibadan participated in the study. Four research questions guided the study. Five instruments were used for this study namely Peer Pressure and Popularity Scale, Parenting Style Inventory, and Self-Esteem Scale, Psychological Adjustment Scale, and Self-Concept Scale. There were correlations between parenting styles, peer acceptance, self-concept, and psychological adjustment. The four independent variables made significant contributions to psychological adjustment of the participants with parenting styles (b= 1.45, 7.356; p&lt;0.05), peer acceptance (b= -1.67, 6.451, p&lt;0.05) and self-concept (b= 1.23, 6.872, p&lt;0.05) while parenting styles was found to be the most potent predictor of psychological adjustment of the participants (b= 1.45, 7.356; p&lt;0.05). When the four variables combined they yielded very strong effect on psychological adjustment i.e. an F-ratio value of 12.207 at 0.05 level i.e. (F (4, 155) = 12.207; p&lt;0.05). Recommendations made include the need for parents to imbibe parenting styles which will encourage their children to adjust well to emotional and psychological issues

Influence of Emotional Intelligence and Locus of Control on Academic Achievement of Underachieving High Ability Students

Underachievement among high ability or gifted students has remained a challenge to educators. Therefore, strategies to combat it have been evolving. Meanwhile instructional strategies seem not effective because of some hidden damage in the personality of the students. This study is therefore motivated to investigate the influence of emotional intelligence (EI) and locus of control (LC) on academic achievement of underachieving high ability students in Ibadan, Nigeria. The sample for the study consists of 72 underachieving high ability students purposively selected from 12 schools in Ibadan, Nigeria. Cognitive Ability Test, modified Schutte’s (1998) Emotional Intelligence Scale (SEIS) and Rotter’s (2001) Locus of Control Scale (RLCS), and the school academic record were used for the data collection. Data collected were analyzed using, t-test and multiple regression analysis. Results showed that the LC and EI of the respondents are significantly low. Again, there is a very strong influence of EI and LC on academic achievement of the participants. A significant difference also exist between male and female students in their locus of control (t=2.15, p<.05) with female participants showing better locus of internal control. The study also revealed that LC (β = .52) has more influence than emotional intelligence (β = .46) in predicting academic achievement and that the two variables have high positive correlation (R= .636) and very strong significant composite effect (F(2,70) = 6.53 and p<.05) on academic achievement. Again LC and EI account for 40.4% (Multiple R2 = .404) of the total variance of the academic achievement. Therefore, it is recommended that educators and parents should develop the emotional intelligence and internal locus of control strongly and not only the cognition domain for optimum achievement of high ability students

Home Background and Self-Concept of High Achieving Students With Emotional Disorder in Ibadan North Local Government

Home environment and self-concept influence child development in many ways. This is particularly critical for high achieving students who because of their uniqueness suffer social isolation and rejection among their peers in school and at home. The knowledge of self is necessary for overcoming emotional issues. This study focused on home background and self-concept of high achieving students in Ibadan, Oyo State. The study adopted survey design of the expo facto type. Three research questions were raised. Simple random sampling was used to select 250 participants for the study. Simple percentage, t-test and multiple regression analysis were conducted on the data collected. It was found that self-concept and parenting styles relate with emotional adjustment. Even though socioeconomic background does not predict emotional adjustment, the researcher found that the combination of the three predictor variables yielded very strong emotional adjustment of the participants. Parenting styles is the most significant predictor of emotional adjustment of the participants. The need for parents to imbibe good parenting styles, the need for school to organize periodic talks to enhance students’ self-concept, the essence of counselling for high achieving students and better societal attitude towards high achieving students were advocated. Key word: Emotional adjustment, family background, high achieving students, parenting style, socio-economic status

Music Therapy in Enhancing Learning Attention of Children with Intellectual Disability

Inattention is one of the significant problems that inhibit learning among children with intellectual disabilities. However, several strategies and therapies have been developed to solve the problem. This study, therefore, investigates the effectiveness of music therapy in enhancing attention among children with intellectual disability. A pretest-posttest control experimental research design was adopted. The experiment was carried out for six weeks using Music Therapy Treatment Package on 24 children with intellectual disability that were randomly selected Modupe Cole Momerial Childcare and Treatment Home/School, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos. A validated Attention Observation Rating Scale (AORS) with a reliability coefficient of 0.88 was used for this study. Three hypotheses were tested in the study, and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used for data analysis. This study revealed that music therapy is effective in enhancing attention among children with intellectual disabilities. Sex and level of severity of the disability were also tested as moderator variables, but they have no significant main or interaction effect with music therapy in enhancing attention for children with intellectual disability. The finding is that music therapy is significantly effective in enhancing attention for children with intellectual disability regardless of their sex or level of severity. It was concluded that attention deficit could be improved for children with intellectual disability. Therefore, Music therapy was recommended for use in the school with adequate teacher training

Cumulative Rehearsal and Auditory Verbal Memory of Persons with Down Syndrome

One of the characteristics of persons with Down syndrome is poor memory, especially the Auditory-Verbal Memory (AVM). Lack of verbal memory among persons with Down syndrome is one major factor that inhibits learning. This is why the effort towards enhancing AVM of persons with Down syndrome is evolving. This study, therefore, investigated the efficacy of cumulative rehearsal on auditory verbal memory of persons with Down syndrome with speech production and gender as moderator variables. A 2 x 2 x 2 factorial matrix of pretest-posttest control group experimental design was used in the study. A sample of thirty participants was drawn from a population of 44 persons with Down syndrome and randomly assigned to control and experimental groups in two special schools; National Orthopaedic Special School, Igbobi, and Modupe Cole Memorial Childcare and Treatment Home/School, Akoka. Data was collected using a validated self-developed instrument, Auditory Verbal Memory Assessment Scale (AVMAS) (r-0.86). Two hypotheses were tested using ANCOVA. Findings from the study revealed that: cumulative rehearsal therapy significantly impacted the auditory-verbal memory of persons with Down syndrome, with significant improvement observed. There was no significant interaction effect of speech level and gender with the therapy. It was thus concluded that cumulative rehearsal therapy is effective in enhancing auditory-verbal memory and so recommended for the improvement of AVM of persons with Down syndrome

Effect of Oral Placement and Expressive Therapies on Speech Intelligibility of Adolescents with Articulation Disorder

Intelligible speech is vital to every adolescent's life, but this skill can be confounded with the presence of articulation disorder. Meanwhile, studies have been conducted using different therapies to improve speech intelligibility. This study investigated the effect of oral placement and expressive therapies on speech intelligibility among adolescents with articulation disorders. The study adopted a pretest-posttest, control group, quasi-experimental research design with a 3x2x2 factorial matrix. Three special centers were randomly selected, and purposive sampling was used in selecting 60 adolescents having articulation disorders comprising 34 males and 26 females. These adolescents were randomly assigned to Experimental Group 1 (n= 22), Experimental Group 2 (n= 21), and Control (n= 17). Speech Intelligibility Assessment Scale (r=0.92) was the instrument used for the study. Participants in the experimental groups were exposed to the oral placement and expressive therapeutic treatments, while those in the control groups were sensitized to a placebo. Three hypotheses were tested at a 0.05 level of significance, while data were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), mean scores, and Bonferroni Post Hoc Test. Findings revealed that there was a significant main effect of treatments F(2,56) = 112.52; p &lt;0.05 (oral placement therapy, expressive therapy, and control group with placebo), and also a significant interaction effect of treatments, gender, and age F(2, 47) = 7.37; p &lt;0.05 on speech intelligibility of adolescents with articulation disorders despite the presence of placebo. Oral placement and expressive therapies were effective in managing the speech intelligibility of adolescents with articulation disorders. Therefore, speech therapists should adopt these therapeutic interventions in rehabilitating adolescents with articulation disorders