EMOTION REGULATION DISABILITY AMONG SPECIAL EDUCATION CHILDREN: A NARRATIVE SYNTHESIS

Abstract

The ability to regulate emotions is important for effective learning amongst students with special educational needs. Poor emotion regulation leads to behavioural problems, such as loneliness, arrogance, aggression, rage and self-harm behaviours, and subsequently, this might contribute to social isolation and less potential to build friendships. In this paper, narrative synthesis was used to explore the causal factors of emotional regulation issues experienced by students with special educational needs and the effects of social emotional problems on these students. The findings from the narrative synthesis indicated that factors leading to emotional regulation issues among students with special educational needs are neurological factors, growth and development factors, peer social rejection factors, parenting factors, and teacher-related factors, while the effects of emotional regulation problems include social problems, behaviour problems, emotion problems, performance employment problems, and cognitive problems. From the narrative synthesis, conceptual frameworks related to the causes and effects of emotional regulation problems amongst students with special educational needs were induced to offer the direction of further investigation on this minimally researched area.