CAREGIVERS’ UTILIZATION OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SKILL ACQUISITION AMONG CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS IN PUBLIC EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE CENTRES IN OWERRI ZONE OF IMO STATE NIGERIA.

The study investigated the relationship between caregiver utilization of inclusive education and preschoolers with special needs, social skills acquisition in early childhood centers in Owerri zone of Imo State. Correlational research design was adopted for this study. The population of the study consisted of 752 caregivers selected from 500 Early Childhood Care Centres in Owerri Senatorial District of Imo State. (Imo State Universal Basic Education Board, Planning, Research & Statistics 2022). 75 caregivers representing 10% of the total population formed the sample size for the study. The correlational design was used in this study. The main instrument for the study was a researcher-designed questionnaire. The face and content validity as well as the reliability of the instrument were established. A reliability index of 0.73 and 0.67 was obtained. Research questions with the null hypotheses were tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) at a 0.05 level of significance. Based on the findings of this study, it was concluded that there is a significant relationship between caregivers’ utilization of inclusive education and the acquisition of social skills such as respect, turn-taking, sharing, cooperation, and interdependence in the public early childhood centers in Owerri zone of Imo State. It was recommended among others that caregivers should be trained adequately on the use of appropriate inclusive education, enabling the children to acquire more social skills in the public early childhood centers in Owerri zone of Imo State.