Computer vocabulary training in kindergarten children with special needs.
The aim of the present study was to determine whether vocabulary training on a computer can enhance vocabulary learning of young children with special needs and whether the task-on-behaviour of these children differed when story reading was carried out by the teacher or by the computer. An experimental group (n=9) listened to a story read to them by the computer and played additional computer vocabulary games during three 20-min sessions. The control group (n=9) had the same story read to them by a teacher and then followed the normal school curriculum. The results showed that children with special needs were equally able to keep their attention on the story when it was read to them by the computer as when it was read to them by the teacher. For vocabulary growth, the intervention showed positive effects. The children from the experimental group learned more experimental words between the pre-test and retention test than the children in the control group. The study shows that a group of kindergarten children with special needs can enhance their vocabulary by working with a computer program without human intervention.
Segers
Eliane
E
Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. e.segers@pwo.ru.nl
Nooijen
Miranda
M
de Moor
Jan
J
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction; D019988:Children with Disabilities / Q000193:education*; D004519:Education, Special / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012984:Software; D014825:Vocabulary