T. Keneni Walga - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Having passed the then Ethiopian School Leaving Certification Exam (ESCE) with great distinction, I joined Addis Ababa University where I obtained my BA in Educational Psychology in 2003. I went on and obtained an MA in Developmental Psychology from Addis Ababa University in July 2008. Recently, I have received another MA (applied social psychology) from Russia’s National Research University also known as Higher School of Economics (https://www.hse.ru/en/) and a PhD in applied developmental psychology from Addis Ababa University. I have also been teaching psychology for more than eight years at college/ university level. Overall, as a student and teacher of psychology, I spent more than a decade and half in academic psychology. My teaching career started at Mickey Leland College in 2003 where I worked as a teacher educator for one academic year. I then worked for another private college-New Generation College- in the capacity of assistant lecturer and education expert between September 2004 and September 2006. Currently, I am teaching at DebreBerhan University in the capacity of assistant professor where I lecture psychology, education and related subjects to graduate and undergraduate students across departments and colleges. My research interests span a range of topics with my main research interest revolving around the effects of family dynamics on children’s socio-emotional and behavior development across the lifespan. In addition to family dynamics, I am also interested in investigating the effects of socio-cultural factors beyond family on children’s psychosocial well-being and behavioral functioning. Further, I am also keenly interested in early childhood learning, assessment and intervention including adaptation of assessment tools into Ethiopian languages for use with domestic and diaspora Ethiopian children. I am comfortable with both quantitative and qualitative research.
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The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in general and autism in particular is on raise ... more The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in general and autism in particular is on raise globally and the need for evidence-based intervention and care for children with autism has grown, too. However, evidence on autism is scanty in developing countries including Ethiopia. With the aim to help fill the gap and paucity in research into the issue, the main purpose of this study is to explore, better understand, and document the experiences and perceptions of parents of children with autism. To this end, we used qualitative survey to collect data from a convenient sample of parents raising a child with autism. The data collected were subjected to qualitative analysis that yielded several themes and subthemes including late diagnosis, parents' reactions to diagnosis, sources of information during and after diagnosis, differing reactions to having a child with autism from siblings, extended family members and the larger community, attribution of autism to several causes by the community, lack of recognition and open discussion of autism and lack of appropriated public educational and health care services for children with autism and their parents. The themes and subthemes identified were discussed in light of existing literature and implications for practice were drawn.
The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in general and autism in particular is on raise ... more The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in general and autism in particular is on raise globally and the need for evidence-based intervention and care for children with autism has grown, too. However, evidence on autism is scanty in developing countries including Ethiopia. With the aim to help fill the gap and paucity in research into the issue, the main purpose of this study is to explore, better understand, and document the experiences and perceptions of parents of children with autism. To this end, we used qualitative survey to collect data from a convenient sample of parents raising a child with autism. The data collected were subjected to qualitative analysis that yielded several themes and subthemes including late diagnosis, parents' reactions to diagnosis, sources of information during and after diagnosis, differing reactions to having a child with autism from siblings, extended family members and the larger community, attribution of autism to several causes by the community, lack of recognition and open discussion of autism and lack of appropriated public educational and health care services for children with autism and their parents. The themes and subthemes identified were discussed in light of existing literature and implications for practice were drawn.