In Botswana, Special Needs Education has been implemented for 25 years with some success but there is still a need for evidence-based methods like Frequency Building, behavioural fluency, and Precision Teaching to be used to measure and improve school performance and learning. We explored the impact of these behavioural technologies on reading performances of four children with learning disorders (ADHD, speech impairment and acquired brain disorder) in a special school in Gaborone. At the assessment, two children were unable to read letter sounds and two could not read sight words. Reading performances were measured with frequency and displayed on a standard celeration chart. During the intervention, the length of the tasks was reduced and then augmented. Findings revealed that after 3 months of intervention children significantly increased their score stimulating self-confidence and enthusiasm during activities. This work demonstrates that behavioural technologies can be applied in Africa without using expensive or time-consuming resources.

Improving the reading skills of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities: Preliminary study from Botswana / Mensi, Marina; Baiocco, Roberto; Maria Paganotti, Giacomo; Michael Kubina, Richard; Otukile-Mongwaketse, Mpho. - In: JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES. - ISSN 1744-6295. - (2020). [10.1177/1744629520968968]

Improving the reading skills of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities: Preliminary study from Botswana

Marina Mensi
Primo
Writing – Original Draft Preparation
;
Roberto Baiocco;
2020

Abstract

In Botswana, Special Needs Education has been implemented for 25 years with some success but there is still a need for evidence-based methods like Frequency Building, behavioural fluency, and Precision Teaching to be used to measure and improve school performance and learning. We explored the impact of these behavioural technologies on reading performances of four children with learning disorders (ADHD, speech impairment and acquired brain disorder) in a special school in Gaborone. At the assessment, two children were unable to read letter sounds and two could not read sight words. Reading performances were measured with frequency and displayed on a standard celeration chart. During the intervention, the length of the tasks was reduced and then augmented. Findings revealed that after 3 months of intervention children significantly increased their score stimulating self-confidence and enthusiasm during activities. This work demonstrates that behavioural technologies can be applied in Africa without using expensive or time-consuming resources.
2020
Botswana; Frequency Building; behavioural fluency; case study; precision teaching
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
Improving the reading skills of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities: Preliminary study from Botswana / Mensi, Marina; Baiocco, Roberto; Maria Paganotti, Giacomo; Michael Kubina, Richard; Otukile-Mongwaketse, Mpho. - In: JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES. - ISSN 1744-6295. - (2020). [10.1177/1744629520968968]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1519534
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