Teachers and primary caregivers' perceptions of recreational activities and social skills in children with Down Syndrome

Abstract

Leisure and recreation are considered to be valuable contributors in the development of social skills, which finally improves well-being when maintained and have shown positive results among individuals with disabilities. Children with Down Syndrome (DS) are however perceived to participate in sedentary and home-based activities, from which they may not experience the social benefits associated with leisure and recreation participation. While DS causes various deficits in areas such as language development, which affect the individuals’ social skills, children with DS have also been classified as being sociable. Not only is there contradiction in literature on this topic, but also restricted research on children with DS, specifically in the middle and late childhood years. It is also important that social skill problems are addressed at an early age, although assessing these skills amongst very young children with DS are difficult. Additionally, since individuals with DS who engage in leisure and recreation can have improved social skills and wellbeing, this topic needs to be researched futher, especially from a South African (SA) context. This limited research creates a gap in SA’s DS and recreation research field. Therefore, a research question was posed: “What is the teachers’ and primary caregivers’ evaluations and perceptions of recreational activities and social skills of 10- to 12-year-old children with DS in the North West Province?” This study included two objectives and each had a separate research methodology. The first objective followed a quantitative research design, which consisted of the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY) rating scale, to determine the social skills of children with DS. Observations by the teachers took place over five consecutive school days, where after the assessment tool was completed together with a supplementary question regarding the leisure and recreation programme areas that the children with DS participate in. During data analysis, a summary of the various and most participated leisure and recreational activities was compiled, while a statistical analysis determined the overall group results of 29 participants with DS between the ages of 10- and 12-years. For the second part of the study, an interpretive descriptive study design was used, by employing a qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with primary caregivers of 13 children with DS, after a data analysis resulted in two categories: (1) Social skills and (2) Leisure and recreation, each with various themes and sub-themes. The study concluded that 10- to 12-year-old children with DS in the North West Province of SA exhibit slightly more appropriate or good social skills, as observed by teachers. They were also perceived by their primary caregivers to have challenges in verbal communication skills such as appropriately opening and ending a conversation and setting boundaries for self-disclosure. Despite these verbal communication challenges, which can be related to their delay in speech and language development, the results did however indicate that the group had strengths in establishing friendships and a few non-verbal social skills (keeping eye contact and physical proximity during a conversation). Numerous differences in their ability to listen attentively, take turns appropriately, maintain good oral hygiene and handle conflict were found, as their behaviour was dependant on various situations. With regard to leisure and recreational activities, the children partook in various leisure and recreation activities, with fine arts (79.3%) and sports (55.1%) being the most participated in programme area activities at school. These school-based activities could however have been scheduled by the teacher and not freely chosen by the children, which in some way defeats the purpose of leisure and recreation. The activities the children mostly participated in at home was sports, followed by music, which by comparison was more freely chosen than activities at school. Sports as a highly rated activity among the children with DS provide opportunities to develop social skills, as it requires teamwork, social interaction and cooperation. This could contribute to the slightly more appropriate social skills they exhibit. Not only does this study contribute to the DS and recreation body of knowledge in SA, but it also provides relevant and valuable information to teachers, family members, parents/primary caregivers as well as schools and institutions who work with children with DS. The recommendations for this study include further research on the social skills and recreational activities of children with DS. It is recommended to implement an intervention study that focusses on the final four steps of the Therapeutic Recreation (TR) process and to research the differences between (1) school-going and non-school going children with DS, (2) Severely Intellectually Disabled (SID) and Mild Mental Learning Disability school-going children, (3) typically developing 10- to 12-year-old children and same-age chronological children with DS.