ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Special Educational Needs
The difficulties faced by special education teachers in teaching adaptive behavior to children with Down syndrome in the State of Kuwait
Provisionally accepted
Nouf Salem Almarzouq1*
Bader Jassem alqallaf2- 1PAAET College of Basic Education, Al-Ardiya, Kuwait
- 2The Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, Safat, Kuwait
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Objectives: The study aimed to examine the difficulties faced by special education teachers in teaching adaptive behavior to children with Down syndrome at the primary level in the State of Kuwait. The study focused on four main dimensions: conceptual skills, practical skills, social skills, and the cultural context of the family, in order to understand the nature and severity of these challenges and to highlight areas requiring targeted support. Methodology: A descriptive-analytical approach was adopted, using an electronic questionnaire to assess the experiences of a simple random sample of 120 special education teachers. The questionnaire addressed various aspects of the teaching process, and the obstacles teachers encounter when developing adaptive skills in students with Down syndrome. Results: The study's findings indicated that special education teachers generally face high levels of difficulty in teaching adaptive behavior. The dimension of the cultural context of the family in Kuwait received the highest mean score, attributed to some families' excessive reliance on assistants or caregivers to perform children's daily tasks, which reinforces dependent behavior and limits opportunities for developing the adaptive skills taught by teachers. The social skills dimension recorded a relatively high mean, while the difficulties related to practical and conceptual skills were at a moderate level. These results suggest that teaching adaptive behavior requires ongoing educational efforts, individualized teaching strategies, and flexible instructional methods tailored to children's needs. Conclusion: Based on these findings, the study recommends developing specialized training programs for teachers to enhance their skills in teaching adaptive behavior. It also emphasizes the need to increase family involvement in fostering children's independence and implementing individualized educational plans that consider each child's strengths and challenges.
Keywords: Adaptive Behavior, Children with Down syndrome, Special Education, State of Kuwait, teachers
Received: 24 Dec 2025; Accepted: 10 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Almarzouq and alqallaf. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Nouf Salem Almarzouq
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