Mediated Learning Experience & Down Syndrome Abstracts
European Journal of Psychology of Education 19(1): 107-117 (2004)
Peer tutoring between young adults with severe and complex learning difficulties: The effects of mediation training with Feuerstein's Instrumental Enrichment programme
Ruth Kaufman¹ and Robert Burden²
¹Oranim College and the International Center for the Enhancement of Learning Potential, Israel. ²School of Education and Lifelong Learning, University of Exeter, UK
This study aimed to draw upon a sociocultural perspective for elucidating the process and outcome of peer learning interactions between young adults with serious learning disabilities. A heterogeneous group of ten young adults between ages of 18 and 27 participated in the year - long cognitive program based on the principles of Feuerstein's theory of mediated learning and Instrumental Enrichment (IE) program. Six of the participants had Down's Syndrome and the others suffered from various disabilities including brain damage, and cerebral palsy. The program included 178 hours of IE cognitive intervention. The peer mediation process was supplemented by an additional emphasis upon collaborative group discussion at the end of every session. A post-positivist research design similar to the design experiment of Russian Vygotskians was employed in order to evaluate both the process and the outcomes of the intervention programme. The results show that after one year the participants' learning self-concept was well above average. Moreover, their reflections about how they had changed as a result of their involvement in the programme and their descriptions of what was required to provide effective mediation demonstrated deep levels of cognitive, emotional and social development.
Journal of Developmental and Learning Disorders 2(1): 299-319 (1997)
Klein, Pnina S.; Arieli, Mary
Bar-Ilan University, Baker Center of the Study of Developmental Disorders in Infants and Children, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel
Commonly used methods for developing math readiness in young children frequently do not meet the needs of children with various developmental disorders. Furthermore, children may learn to use skills (such as counting by rote memory) that may be misued and actually interfere with the future development of their mathematical thinking. This study presents a model for designing a remedial approach for a population of children with special needs, including children with severe problems involving the understanding of numbers. The Mediational Intervention in Math (MIM) shifts the focus of training the auditory sequential mode to the visual simultaneous mode ("right hemisphere"). In addition, the MIM approach exemplifies the use of a mediational approach in math. Subjects were thirty children with Down Syndrome, 5 to 7 years old. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups. Group 1 received weekly training using MIM approach, Group 2 did not participate in the program but their parents participated in MIM counseling including general information about the development of math skills and the MIM. Group 3 included children who were involved in an ongoing language and math enrichment program for one to three years. The MIM training lasted about 6 months. Six months following the intervention, a significant difference in children's performance on the Key Math Diagnostic Arithmetic Test was found in favor of Group 1. The children in Group 1 demonstrated a better understanding of basic mathematical concepts and problem solving abilities that the children in both other groups.
Developmental Disabilities Bulletin 21(2) (1993)
Santiago Molina and Ana Arraiz Perez
University of Zaragoza, Spain
Cognitive processes of children with Down Syndrome (DS) and others without DS but with mental retardation (MR) were assessed first in a standard static form, followed by a session of mediated learning and reassessment. The cognitive processes that were assessed comprised planning, simultaneous and successive processing. The subjects were 30 typically developing children 5-7 years of age, 60 children with MR and 30 children with DS between 9 and 12 years of age. The groups were comparable on the Columbia Mental Maturity Scale. The children with DS were particularly poor in successive processing and planning. The dynamic assessment involving mediated learning improved the DS children's successive processing more than planning or simultaneous processing. This implies a greater learning potential for successive processing, even though children with DS are known to be deficient in this type of processing; a very brief mediated learning session could ameliorate their deficiency.
International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology 7th International Conference, Calgary, Alberta, Canada June 27-30, 1999
The Impact Of Two Different Teaching Styles On The Psychomotor Domain
Paulene Kamps
University of Calgary
The objective of a research study conducted in the spring of 1999 was to investigate the motor behaviors of preschool aged children with Down syndrome. Four children aged 36 to 66 months served as participants in the replicated single-subject design. Each child participated in two different teaching styles - the traditional command and practice format and a graduated prompt method which was designed to impact the cognitive and psychomotor domains. Predetermined forms, levels, and amounts of intervention were presented to each child in a specific order to facilitate the learning and development of gross motor skills. It was hypothesized that teaching methods which included information focused at the cognitive domain would impact the physical execution and display of motor knowledge of two gross motor skills. This presentation will feature the results of the study as well as offer a hands on display of the various teaching tools and props that were developed as part of the graduated prompt strategies.
International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology 7th International Conference, Calgary, Alberta, Canada June 27-30, 1999
Development of Preverbal Communication in Relation to Patterns of Mediation In Mother-Infant Interactions with Normal and Down Syndrome Infants
Varda Rosenthal and Pnina S. Klein
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Patterns of mediation in infant-mother interactions were recorded and studied in interactions of 40 mothers and their normal infants and of 40 mothers of infants with Downs Syndrome. The mother child dyads were videotaped in free play at 7-9 months, 14-16 months and 20-22 months during feeding bathing and play. Mothers' quality of mediation was assessed in both groups at each of the three ages studied. Specific patterns of mother interactions were observed for the normal mother-infant dyads and for the mother-DS infant dyads. These patterns were also related differentially to outcome measures including preverbal communication, i.e., eye contact, joint attention, vocalization, gestural communication and verbal communication. The findings may serve as a basis for early intervention in groups of normal and at risk infants and young children.