The 9th International Scientific Conference eLearning and software for Education Bucharest, April 25-26, 2013

The 9^thInternational Scientific Conference eLearning

and software for Education Bucharest,

April 25-26, 2013 

10.12753/2066-026X-13-052 

THE IMPACT OF ICT ON THE VISUOMOTOR PRECISION OF STUDENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY 

I. INTRODUCTION 

The omnipresence of technology in everyday life has led to the concept of learning through ICT, which is performed even outside formal educational environments. Although currently ICT is used in the classroom less than one would have anticipated, it definitely represents an equalizing factor because for many persons with disabilities technology can serve as a cognitive support to overcome or compensate for difficulties experienced in the learning process. ICT may help with creating conditions for equal opportunities in learning and access to the curriculum. The role of ICT as an equalizing factor for students with special educational needs is confirmed by the remarkable diversity of multimedia materials that were developed to meet the special needs of children. Magazines and online stores offer an impressive range of devices and programs that cover all areas of the curriculum and all kinds of learning disabilities. 

It seems, though, that the Information Age brings with it not only opportunities for children with special needs - but also many challenges. On one hand technology may provide for the chance of involvement in some aspects of society that would be normally inaccessible to people with disabilities, but on the other hand it can create new barriers that would require special efforts to be overcome, deepening social exclusion. Those who do not enjoy equal access to information are thus losing one oftheir most important rights. If ICT is inaccessible to people with disabilities or information is processed so that certain groups of people with special needs can not be allowed to access it, for these persons ICT can become a source of frustration.

In the educational context, ICT plays a critical role in providing high quality educational experiences for students with various disabilities. ICT was introduced in the teaching-learning process in an attempt to improve quality, to support curricular changes and to promote new learning experiences. It is thus possible to address the special learning needs of different groups of students with disabilities. Although specific applications of information and communication technologies are highly diverse and varied, they can be grouped into the following three main categories as mentioned by Florian (2004):

- compensatory use in the sense that technology can somehow counterbalance and compensate for the deficiency.Students with special needs can participate actively in the process of interaction and communication, for example if a person has a motor disability, technology may be employed as support in the writing process - or if a visual impairment exists, as a support to the reading process.

- teaching use : allowing access to a variety of teaching and assessment strategies for students with special educational needs, ICT tools are thus suitable for the implementation of the concept of inclusive education;

- communication use: a computer is a resource that facilitates and enables communication, allowing a person with communication disorders to prove their skills, to initiate communication, to express certain requests and to exemplify certain needs. Moreover, if the number of available teachers is not sufficient (which can be observed sometimes in the special education area), distance teaching facilitated by ICT can help providing services between students and teachers who reside in different geographical locations.

According to research conducted by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA, 2003), the use of ICT in schools allows students with special needs to communicate, to participate in lessons and to learn more effectively.According to this research the use of ICT has effects on both the students and their teachers or parents:

effects on students with special needs (as per BECTA, 2003):

- increasing independent access to education;

- opportunity to perform their work in a self-paced manner;

- Internet usage becomes possible, e.g. internet usage by children with visual impairments; -increased communication opportunities for students with associated and profound disabilities

- increasing social and school integration

- ICT use motivates students to access the Internet at home both for training and leisure.

- effects on teachers:

o   ICT makes it easier into transform learning materials in accessible resources, one example being given by the use of Braille printing;

o   stimulates professional cooperation between teachers, allowing them to communicate and share experiences with other colleagues.

- effects on parents:

o   the use of ICT encourages parents in having higher expectations about the sociability and the potential participation level of children with special needs.

Therefore, new technologies can provide the means to explore new forms of learning that overturn traditional hierarchies of education and develop real alternatives to the classical, rigid approaches related to the training of children with SEN.

II. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES AND OBJECTIVES

Given the theoretical considerations and previous research conducted on the role of ICT in special education, we have built an investigative study whose purpose was to identify the impact that an educational software adapted for children with special educational needs directly has on visuomotor accuracy.

 

Based on the above declared purpose, we have formulated these research objectives:

- identification of visuomotor accuracy levels in children with mental deficiency, before and after the implementation of the computerized educational program;

- identification of the influence that an educational software application in school activities for children with mental disabilities has on their neuropsychological development.

 

Based on the declared research purpose and objectives, we have formulated the next hypotheses:

- It is presumed that the use of interactive learning systems, in a constructive manner, even by students with mental disabilities, may lead to an improvement in their psychmotor reaction time;

- It is presumed that the use of information technology in a controlled manner cognitively stimulates children, thus contributing to an increased academic performance.

III. RESEARCH RESULTS

In this study a group of 90 students with mild intellectual disabilities (representing the experimental sample group) and a control group of 90 students (also diagnosed with mild intellectual disabilities) took part to an experiment which included interactive media lessons. The members of both groups attend special schools. The participants are boys and girls in almost equal percentages and with the age ranging from 10 to 16 years and an IQ between 50-79.

In order to determine the influences of interactive computer learning environments on cognitive development of children with mental disabilities, we have used the neuropsychological development assessment battery - NEPSY. In this paper, we present only the results obtained at the Visuomotor Precision sub-test.This sub-test assesses fine motor skills (speed) and eye-hand coordination accuracy. In the sub-test, the child uses his favorite hand to draw a line in a given route sketched on a paper. While performing this task, the response time is measured and a time limit of 180 seconds per item is considered. Any route segment which is completed beyond this time limit counts as an error.

We have chosen to test and monitor the improvement of psychomotor development for children with intellect deficiencies by taking into account that they exhibit different degrees of disability depending on IQ and other characteristics. Thus, children with a low or moderate intellect deficiency present as characteristics: a delayed psycho-motor development - sometimes this delay is not so visible, such as the development may even appear as normal - impaired coordination of voluntary motion, gestural imprecision, clumsiness, involuntary unnecessary movements.Sometimes, on an apparently normal display of psychomotricity, disturbances only occur in complex situations, ant they are related to the speed and accuracy of fine movements, but also to the ability to voluntarily relax. Sensory system disorders manifested by children with mental deficiencies negatively influence the level of knowledge and praxic effectiveness; usually they consist of difficulties related to body scheme perception, the perception of space and the understanding of spatial relationships, the perception of time, shortness of motor memory and feedback etc.

But we believe that through the use of information technologies in the educational process motor skills capacity may be improved, patience may be educated, coordination of fine finger movements may be tuned, eye-hand coordination may be increased, control and precision of fine hand and finger movements may be developed.

In the extensive study that we conducted, students were provided with educational software (interactive multimedia lessons). Each interactive lesson is presented and organised in the form of lesson moments called reusable learning objects. These moments are also divided into sub-moments which are created by connecting various learning resources.So these resources are organized in lessons (each lesson containing from 3 to 14 reusable objects) and arranged according to the unit topic.

In this way, the curriculum fragmentation into reusable learning objects creates an advantage, contributing to the flexibility of the teaching process: the teacher can aggregate learning paths which are personalized, adaptable and reusable. The teacher can use resources from other disciplines, may use their own material or extract them from the internet. Depending on the electronic resources available and their potential, the teacher will use the alternative teaching scenario which is the most appropriate for the respective class level, structured so as to foster cooperative learning, individualized

learning, learning through play, self-assessment processes, understanding concepts, operating with the new concepts, strengthening concepts through practice, all this while the teacher maintains and tailors content to the students' level of knowledge.

Interactive multimedia lessons propose a content which is scientifically valid: scenarios are developed by specialist teachers, recognized for professional accomplishments and teaching experience; language used in lessons is the same as the one used in textbooks; the text is easy to read and is written with a simple and understandable approach; vocabulary is adapted to the needs of thechild; work tasks are presented both as text and sound; lessons contain activities related to real situations and activities; difficulty levels rise gradually and students have some feedback when each task is completed. 

To check whether a statistically significant improvement in visuomotor accuracy is observed in subjects involved in our research, we used a quantitative analysis of the results (descriptive statistics) and the "t" test for paired samples. 

At the Initial testing of the visuomotor accuracy, before introducing interactive media lessons, subjects from both groups obtained scores that were quite close in value. 

During the pretest period, in the experimental group the following scores were obtained: 27 subjects received scores between 4-6 points (equivalent to an underdeveloped capacity), 54 subjects received scores between 7-13 points (equivalent to an average developed capacity) and 9 subjects received scores between 14-16 points (the equivalent of a well-developed capacity). 

In the control group, the pretest phase, we obtained the following scores: 25 subjects obtained scores in the range of 4-6 points (underdeveloped capacity), 57 subjects received scores between 7-13 points (average developed capacity) and 8 subjects received scores between 14-16 points (highly developed capacity). 

Table 1. Results obtained at the initial testing by subjects in both groups – 

Visuomotor Accuracy Test NEPSY 

Score	4-6	7-13	14-16
Experimental group	27	54	9
Score	4-6	7-13	14-16
Control group	25	57	8

 

Figure 1. Results obtained at the initial testing by subjects in both groups - Visuomotor Accuracy Test NEPSY

After placing the subjects in the experimental group in interactive learning environments, the final test results have revealed a change in scores in both groups, but the change is more obvious for the experimental group. 

Thus, for the experimental group 12 subjects obtained scores in the range of 4-6 points (underdeveloped capacity), 69 subjects received scores between 7-13 points (average developed capacity ) and 9 subjects received scores between 14 - 16 points (highly developed capacity). 

Regarding the control group, the following scores were obtained in the post-test phase: 18 subjects were in the range 4-6 points (underdeveloped capacity), 63 subjects scored between 7-13 points (average developed capacity) and 9 subjects obtained scores in the range of 14-16 points. 

Tabel 2. Results obtained at the final testing by subjects in both groups - Visuomotor Accuracy Test NEPSY 

Score	4-6	7-13 14-16
Experimental group	12	69 9
Score	4-6	7-13 14-16
Control group	18	63 9

 

Figure 2. Results obtained at the final testing by subjects in both groups - Visuomotor Accuracy Test NEPSY 

To determine the degree of statistical significance of the differences obtained between the initial and final test results in the two groups in the research, we applied the "t" test for paired samples. 

Table 3. Paired Samples Test for both groups 

Paired Samples Test

Group 

Std. 

Std. 

_MeanLower Upper _{t df}Sig. 

(2-tailed) 

Mean 

_{experimental Pair 1}scortest1 

Deviation 

Error 

_scortest2- .733 .868 .159 -1058 - .409 -4.626 29 .000

control Pair 1

scortest1  scortest2

- .100

.305

.056

- .214

.014

-1795

29

.083

Statistical data obtained shows an improvement in the visuomotor accuracy, both for the experimental sample group and the control sample group. However, progress in the experimental sample is statistically significant, compared to the control sample, where progress is limited. In descriptive terms we can say that using multimedia lessons in special education and educational games adapted for children with special needs can lead to a stimulation on various cognitive levels. 

IV. CONCLUSIONS

In the present study we have sought to verify whether the use of ICT for children with special educational needs may have an effect on fine psychomotor skills. The recorded results statistically confirm the observations we made during the research. 

The importance of ICT in special education is a consequence of numerous innovations that have led to improving and expanding the ways in which technology can support children with special needs. The special education system from Romania has started to integrate an increasing number of software packages adapted for children with different difficulties or disabilities, such as Commnunicate in Print (for creating communication materials and books), Communicate Symwriter (for beginner students in writing) or By Choice software for children with very severe disabilities. All these software are commonly used in special schools throughout Romania and have contributed to facilitating the recovery of these children; meanwhile, the range of software development is expanded, so that it covers a larger spectrum of disorders: speech therapy software, software to facilitate the communication of various emotions and the use of emotional language etc. 

REFERENCES

[1] Florian, L.; Hegarty, J. (2004). ICT and special educational needs. A tool for inclusion. Open University Press, Maidenhead, England. 

[2] Radu, I. D. (2000). Educația psihomotorie a deficienților mintal. Îndrumător metodic, Bucureşti, Editura Pro Humanitate. 

[3] BECTA ICT Research. (2003). online: http://www.becta.org.uk/page_documents/research/wrts_ictsupport accessed on 17 of January 2013.