Perceptions of children with special needs towards their socio-emotional school climate in inclusive setting

Socio-emotional school climate of an individual especially of a child with special needs is an important variable influencing the psychological aspects of his/her personality like self-concept, adjustment, motivation, creativity, social maturity etc. The researcher made an attempt to study the perceptions of Children with Special Needs (CWSN) towards their socio-emotional school climate with respect to their sex, residential background and type of disability. A sample of 204 CWSN was selected from various Government Elementary Schools of District Kangra through random sampling. The sample comprised of 68 orthopaedically handicapped (OH), 68 speech impaired (SI) and 68 visually impaired (VI) children with special needs. The study revealed that sex differences are significant at. 01 level while residential background differences are not significant with respect to their socio-emotional school climate. Further significant differences in perception towards socio-emotional school climate were observed with respect to type of disability. VI CWSN had perceived their socio–emotional school climate better than OH CWSN. VI CWSN had perceived their socio–emotional school climate better than SI CWSN. However, OH and SI CWSN did not differ significantly with respect to perceptions towards socio–emotional school climate.