Malaysian Preschool Teachers’ Knowledge About and Practice in Managing Students with Communication Disorders

Children with communication disorders require additional support in school to cope with the social and academic demands. Teachers play an essential role in creating environments that facilitate children’s communication development in schools. This study aimed to explore Malaysian preschool teachers’ knowledge about communication disorders, strategies they use when interacting with students with communication disorders, and their attitudes towards communication disorders. Fifty-four teachers from the Preschool Special Education Program of the Ministry of Education Malaysia provided information about their knowledge, practices, and attitudes by completing a questionnaire developed for this study. Teachers demonstrated limited knowledge about the symptoms, treatments, aetiologies, and impacts of communication disorders. However, despite having limited knowledge, they reported using various facilitative strategies when interacting with students with communication disorders in the classroom. Teachers also reported that managing students with communication disorders was challenging, and they were keen to learn more. This study highlights the need for Malaysian preschool special education teachers to receive adequate pre-service and in-service training to enable them to create environments that support communication development to prevent learned helplessness among students in the classroom.