Acquisition of Basic Concepts by Children with Intellectual Disabilities Using a Computer-Assisted Learning Approach

Abstract

Computer-assisted learning can be an efficient learning-teaching procedure. Although there is an extensive educational software tradition for this approach, few have better performance than standard drill-and-practice methods. In this work, the specific software “Let's Play With …” was designed to teach concepts of colours, shapes, and body position to children with intellectual disabilities. The software structure follows the Gagné instructional design and applied behaviour analysis. The program was carried out with 39 boys and 21 girls who were special education students in the Cadiz School District. Statistically significant differences were found between groups taught with and without the software.