This study examines the relationships between learning disabilities and the emotional, cognitive, and functional characteristics of kindergarten teachers. It specifically focuses on stress symptoms stemming from learning experiences, emotion regulation strategies, empathy, and perceptions of the educational climate in the kindergarten.

The central research question focuses on the relationships between learning disabilities and psychological and functional variables among kindergarten teachers and specifically, how are these variables related to the educational climate?

Classroom climate is the sum of subjective evaluations regarding perceptions, experiences, emotions, and mutual influences of all participants in a specific educational environment. It is shaped through interactions between students themselves and between students and their educators. An optimal educational climate contributes to children's psychological well-being, emotional development, and social competence, promotes learning motivation and improves academic achievements, as well as the acquisition of social and emotional skills.

Repeated academic failures, experienced by students with learning disabilities can be a significant source of distress, demanding high investment of emotional and psychological resources. Accordingly, adults with learning disabilities may encounter learning based stress symptoms linked to a traumatic learning experience. Furthermore, learning disabilities are associated with difficulties in emotion regulation and a reduced capacity for empathy.

The way educators regulate their emotions during interactions with children, parents, and colleagues play a crucial role in class climate.

Teachers with a learning disability may have difficulties in teaching and emotional regulation which could negatively impact the quality of instruction provided to their students.

On the other hand, the personal experience of teachers with learning disabilities can help them with their students with disabilities. Studies have indicated that past experiences of educators with learning disabilities with the traumatic challenges of learning enable them to detect and identify with children's difficulties due to their own past experiences during their schooling.

For the current study research variables were measured by questionnaires distributed via social media. A sample of 357 kindergarten teachers volunteered to respond to the questionnaire, some of whom had learning disabilities and some without.

The study's findings reveal a significant network of relationships between learning disabilities and psychological and functional variables: learning based distress symptoms, emotion regulation strategies, emotional empathy, and the perception of the educational climate in the kindergarten. For example, it was found that empathic distress and emotion regulation strategies involving emotional suppression predict the educational climate in the kindergarten.

The study's conclusions offer new and significant insights into possible differences in the functioning of kindergarten teachers with learning disabilities compared to those without disabilities. Additionally, these insights may form a basis for applied recommendations for policymakers, management teams, and training personnel within the education system, with the aim of improving the educational climate in kindergartens.

Keywords: Education, learning disabilities, class climate, kindergarten teachers.