Against all odds: factors contributing to the success of students with special needs

In the Malaysian education system, students with special needs, such as the deaf, blind and those with learning difficulties, who follow the national curriculum are given the opportunity to sit for the Malaysian Standardized examinations at the end of Year 6, Form 3, and Form 5. The objective of this paper is to discuss factors contributing to the academic achievement of deaf and blind students based on the reports by their teachers, students and school administrators. More specifically, the paper highlights the psycho-social profiles of the students who excel in the examinations in terms of their motivations and the influence of their peers, parents, and teachers towards their performance, as reported by themselves and their teachers. This is a descriptive study which employed both the quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitative data were analysed to examine the special needs students’ performance in their examinations and the administrators’ perspectives on the factors relating to their performances. In general, most of the deaf and blind students scored grades E and D for the standardized exams. However, a small number did well in the standardized exams by obtaining As and Bs, indicating that they have the potentials to succeed academically. The factors which influence the achievements are internal factors (self-motivation, diligence and hard work, as well as possessing good memory) and external factors (peer influence, parental involvement, teacher encouragement, and school support).

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