Developmental Scores and Prevalence of Functional Difficulty Among Preschool Children in Kenya.
Julia de Kadt, Anita Jeyam, Sheru W Muuo and 3 others
PMID 39871777WHAT IT FOUND
Nearly one in five preschoolers in Homa Bay and one in twelve in Kakuma had functional difficulties.
In Kakuma, these children scored lower on development tests, but in Homa Bay they did not. This shows disability is common in mainstream Kenyan preschools and needs teacher support.
Key findings
01The overall prevalence of functional difficulty was 19.9% in Homa Bay and 8.8% in Kakuma.
02In Kakuma, children with functional difficulties obtained significantly lower overall IDELA scores than children without, driven by lower scores in socio-emotional and emergent numeracy domains.
03In Homa Bay, there was no evidence of a statistically significant association between functional difficulty status and overall or domain-specific IDELA scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional baseline data, so it cannot determine if the intervention caused changes or if the groups differed at the start. Prevalence estimates may be underreported in Kakuma because the CFM could not be translated into all home languages of the refugee population. IDELA administration was more challenging in Kakuma due to heat, class sizes, and language barriers, which may have disproportionately affected scores for children with disabilities. The sample was purposively selected from schools without prior inclusive education interventions, which may not represent all Kenyan preschools. IDELA scores are not benchmarked for clinical diagnosis, so they indicate relative performance rather than specific impairment.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that functional difficulty always leads to lower developmental test scores. In Homa Bay, children with functional difficulties scored similarly to their peers on the IDELA, while in Kakuma they scored significantly lower. This difference may reflect the greater challenges in administering tests in the refugee context rather than a true difference in the impact of disability on learning.