Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Multi-sensory responses in children'

Background. In children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), sensori-motor development and functional skills in activities of daily living (ADL) remain little explored in comparison to the other domains of development. Objectives. To determine the impact of sensori-motor skills on functional skills in ADL of preschool children with ASD, and to examine their type of sensory responses, their motor skills and their functional skills in ADL. Methods. This project is a pilot and cross-sectional study. Thirty-five children with ASD, three to four years of age, have been recruited and assessed. Control groups are also included: eight children with developmental delay (DD) and five children with typical development (TD). A battery of diagnostic and clinical tests was used. Results. ASD and DD groups have significantly more atypical sensory responses than the TD group as measured by the Sensory Profile. The ASD group has significantly poorer motor skills than controls (TD and DD) based on the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales --2nd edition (PDMS-2). Self-care skills of the ASD group fall below 2 standard deviations (SD) on the Functional Independence Measure for Children (WeeFIM). Daily living skills (DLS) of the ASD group are significantly poorer than controls on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales -- Second Edition (VABS-II). The largest percentage of variability in self-care skills, as measured by the WeeFIM, is explained by cognitive functioning and auditory processing, while personal skills, as measured by the VABS-II, are predicted by fine motor skills and sensory avoiding. Conclusion. Pre-school children with ASD, but also children with DD, react differently to sensory stimuli than typically developing children. Also, children with ASD have significantly poorer motor skills than DD and TD children. These sensory and motor difficulties affect the functional skills in ADL. Therefore, it will be important clinically to individually assess and consider sensori-motor and functional skills in ADL of children with ASD. Future interventions may then aim at improving and supporting the development and autonomy of these children. In turn this may assist caregivers by reducing their care load.
Keywords: autism spectrum disorders, sensory responses, motor skills, functional skills, activities of daily living

The issue of diagnosed children has been heavily debated in the media over the past decade. This study deals with the issue of diagnosis from a family perspective and utilizes a method of thematic analysis trough a literature review of four autobiographies that describes the parents experience of the diagnosis issue regarding attitudes and responses towards their children and family. The purpose is to create a greater understanding of the family situation and to explore new approaches and strategies to counter psychological affliction and exclusion in society. The results show a widespread exclusion based on the main themes, internal and external influences. These themes represent exclusion factors like for example inexperience in dealing with power bearing institutions such as schools and health facilities and creates few opportunities for socialization processes due to the child's disability, stigma. Both of these themes can be seen as a result of sensory deprivation. The attitudes and responses of society towards the stigma bearing child has a great negative impact on the families with diagnosed children.
Diagnosfrågan har varit starkt omdebatterad i media under det senaste decenniet. Dennas studie behandlar diagnosfrågan ur ett familjeperspektiv genom en kvalitativ ansats via en litteraturstudie och tematisk analys av fyra självbiografier. Syftet med studien är att belysa diagnosbärande barns föräldrars erfarenheter kring omgivningens attityder och bemötande samt skapa en ökad förståelse för familjernas livssituation. Vidare menar den kommande analysen till att kunna utröna nya förhållningssätt och strategier för att motverka psykisk ohälsa i dessa familjer. Resultatet visar på ett utbrett utanförskap som redovisas i två huvudteman, inre och yttre påverkan. Dessa teman representerar faktorer som okunskap i bemötande och attityder inom maktbärande institutioner men även i ett fördomsfullt och toleranslöst bemötande från den närmaste omgivningen. Resultatet visar även att utanförskapet skapar få möjligheter till socialiseringsprocesser på grund av de negativa attityderna kring barnets funktionsnedsättning och beteende, detta kan ses som en följd av sensorisk deprivation.

Pervasive growth in industrialization and advances in technology now exposes much of the world to anthropogenic night light and noise (ANLN), which pose a global environmental challenge in terrestrial environments. An estimated one-tenth of the planet’s land area experiences artificial light at night — and that rises to 23% if skyglow is included. Moreover, anthropogenic noise is associated with urban development and transportation networks, as the ecological impact of roads alone is estimated to affect one-fifth of the total land cover of the United States and is increasing in space and intensity. Existing research involving impacts of light or noise has primarily focused on a single sensory stressor and single species; yet, little information is known about how different sources of sensory stressors impact the relationships within tightly-knit and complex systems, such as within plant-pollinator communities. Furthermore, ANLN often co-occur, yet little is known about how co-exposure to these stressors influences wildlife, nor the extent and scale of how these stressors impact ecological processes and patterns. In Chapter 1, we had two aims: to investigate species-specific responses to artificial night light, anthropogenic noise, and the interaction between the two by using spatially-explicit models to model changes in abundance of 140 of the most prevalent overwintering bird species across North America, and to identify functional traits and contexts that explain variation in species-specific responses to ANLN stressors with phylogenetically-informed models. We found species that responded to noise exposure generally decreased in abundance, and the interaction with light resulted in negative synergistic responses that exacerbated the negative influence of noise among many species. Moreover, the interaction revealed negative emergent responses of species that only reacted when both ANLN were presented in combination. The functional trait that was the most indicative of avian response to ANLN was habitat preference. Specifically, species that occupy closed habitat were less tolerant of both sensory stressors compared to those that occupy open habitat. Species-specific responses to ANLN are context-dependent; thus, knowing the information that regulates when, where, how, and why sensory pollutants influence species will help management efforts effectively mitigate these anthropogenic stressors on the natural environment. In Chapter 2, using field-placed light manipulations at sites exposed to a gradient of skyglow, we investigated the influence of direct and indirect light on the yucca-yucca moth mutualism by quantifying chaparral yucca (Hesperoyucca whipplei) fruit set and the obligate moth (Tegeticula maculata maculata) larval density per fruit. Although many diurnal insects are thought to exhibit minimal phototaxis, we show that direct light attracted adult moths and incited higher pollination activity, resulting in an increase in fruit set. However, larval recruitment decreased with elevated light exposure and the effect was strongest for plants exposed to light levels exceeding natural moonlit conditions (> 0.5 lux). Contrarily, increases in ambient skyglow resulted in an increase in both fruit set and larva counts. Our results suggest that plant-pollinator communities may respond in complicated ways to different sources of light, such that novel selection pressures of direct and indirect light have the potential to benefit or disrupt networks within complex diurnal plant-pollinator communities, and ultimately alter the biodiversity reliant on these systems. By analyzing pervasive stressors across a continental-wide scale, we revealed considerable heterogeneity in avian responses to light and noise alone, as well as the interaction between them. Based on overall responses to the interaction between light v and noise, we suggest management efforts should focus on ameliorating excessive noise for overwintering bird species, which should decrease the impact from synergistic responses, as well as the negative impact from noise alone. There is still much to learn about responses to these stressors and smaller-scale studies should take our approach of systematically assessing interaction responses to ANLN. Moreover, our small-scale study revealed both local sources of direct light and skyglow impact the recruitment for both yucca moths and their reciprocal plant hosts. However, it is still unknown if or why other diurnal pollinators experience positive phototaxis, and whether direct lighting influences the physiology, behavior, or multiple factors relating to reproduction and fitness. Correspondingly, it is unknown if the novel selection pressures of direct and indirect light are disrupting complex diurnal plant-pollinator communities. Future research on artificial night light will need to investigate the intricate responses of diurnal pollinators to both direct and indirect light that will identify concrete mechanisms relating to physiological or behavioral susceptibility and inform predictions on how wide-spread communities will shift with this global driver of emerging change.

Abstract To be able to acquire, produce, and comprehend language, precise central auditory processing (CAP), neural processes utilized for managing auditory input, is essential. However, the auditory environments are not always optimal for CAP because noise levels in children’s daily environments can be surprisingly high. In young children, CAP and its developmental trajectory as well as the influence of noise on it have scarcely been investigated. Event-related potentials (ERPs) offer promising means to study different stages of CAP in small children. Sound processing, preattentive auditory discrimination, and attention shifting processes can be addressed with obligatory responses, mismatch negativity (MMN), and novelty P3 of ERPs, respectively. In this thesis the developmental trajectory of CAP from 2 to 4 years of age as well as noise-induced changes on it, were investigated. In addition, the feasibility of the multi-feature paradigm with syllable stimuli and novel sounds in children was evaluated. To this end, obligatory responses (P1, N2, and N4) and MMNs for consonant, frequency, intensity, vowel, and vowel duration changes, as well as novelty P3 responses, were recorded in a silent condition and with babble noise using the multi-feature paradigm. The participants were voluntary, typically developing children. Significant P1, N2, N4, and MMN responses were elicited at both ages. Also a significant novelty P3, studied at the age of 2 years, was found. From 2 to 4 years, the P1 and N2 latencies shortened. The amplitudes of N2, N4, and MMNs increased and the increment was the largest at frontal electrode locations. During noise, P1 decreased, N2 increased, and the latency of N4 diminished as well as MMNs degraded. The noise-induced changes were largely similar at both ages. In conclusion, the multi-feature paradigm with five syllable deviant types and novel sounds was found to be an appropriate measure of CAP in toddlers. The changes in ERP morphology from 2 to 4 years of age suggest maturational changes in CAP. Noise degraded sound encoding, representation forming, and auditory discrimination. The children were similarly vulnerable to hampering effects of noise at both ages. Thus, noise might potentially harmfully influence language processing and thereby its acquisition in childhood
Tiivistelmä Kielen omaksumiselle, tuottamiselle sekä ymmärtämiselle on tärkeää tarkka keskushermostollinen kuulotiedon käsittely eli ne hermostolliset prosessit, joita käytetään kuullun aineksen käsittelyyn. Kuunteluympäristöt eivät kuitenkaan aina ole optimaalisia kuulotiedon käsittelylle, sillä melutasot lasten elinympäristöissä voivat olla hyvinkin korkeita. Pienten lasten kuulotiedon käsittelyä, sen kehittymistä ja melun vaikutusta siihen on tutkittu vähän. Kuuloherätevasteet ovat toimiva tapa tarkastella pienten lasten kuulotiedon käsittelyä eri näkökulmista. Äänen käsittelyä, esitietoista kuuloerottelua ja tarkkaavuuden siirtymistä voidaan tarkastella obligatoristen vasteiden, poikkeavuusnegatiivisuuden ja novelty P3 -vasteiden avulla. Tässä väitöskirjassa tarkastellaan kuulotiedon käsittelyn kehittymistä kahden vuoden iästä neljän vuoden ikään sekä melun vaikutusta siihen. Lisäksi arvioidaan tavuärsykkeitä ja poikkeavia ääniä sisältävän monipiirreparadigman soveltuvuutta lapsitutkimuksiin. Tutkimuksissa rekisteröitiin monipiirreparadigman avulla obligatorisia vasteita (P1, N2 ja N4); konsonantin, taajuuden, intensiteetin, vokaalin ja vokaalin keston muutokselle syntyneitä MMN-vasteita sekä novelty P3 -vasteita hiljaisuudessa ja taustamelussa. Tutkimuksen osallistujat olivat vapaaehtoisia tyypillisesti kehittyviä lapsia. Molemmilla tutkimuskerroilla P1, N2, N4 ja MMN poikkesivat merkitsevästi nollatasosta samoin kuin kaksivuotiailta tutkittu novelty P3. Kahden vuoden iästä neljään vuoteen P1- ja N2-vasteiden latenssi lyheni sekä N2, N4 ja MMN vahvistuivat, muutoksen ollessa suurinta frontaalisilla elektrodeilla. Melun aikana P1 heikkeni, N2 vahvistui ja N4-vasteen latenssi lyhentyi. Lisäksi MMN-vaste heikkeni. Melun aiheuttamat muutokset olivat samankaltaisia sekä kahden että neljän vuoden iässä. Johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta viittä eri tavuärsyketyyppiä ja yllättäviä ääniä sisältävän monipiirreparadigman olevan toimiva menetelmä taaperoiden kuulotiedon käsittelyn tutkimiseen. Kahden ja neljän ikävuoden välillä tapahtuvat muutokset vasteissa kuvastavat kehityksellisiä muutoksia kuulotiedon käsittelyssä. Melu heikentää äänitiedon peruskäsittelyä, edustumien muodostumista ja esitietoista kuuloerottelua. Lapset olivat lähes yhtä alttiita melun vaikutuksille sekä kahden että neljän vuoden iässä. Melu voi siis haitata kielen prosessointia ja sen omaksumista

In a school system with fewer teachers, larger groups, and less resources, functionally oriented music therapy (FMT) could be a useful method of helping children function better at school.  In what way can FMT help improve children’s ability to deal with the challenges facing them at school?  During a project that lasted for 26 weeks, two children from a Swedish preschool class were offered individual FMT once a week.  The group as a whole was divided in two and offered group music (according to the Music in preparation for school (MUISC) programme) every second week.  There was an interview with the teacher, along with an assessment of function for the two individuals, at the beginning and at the end of the project.  The two individuals receiving regular FMT functioned better at school at the end of the project.  FMT could be an effective resource to help improve children’s ability to deal with the challenges facing them at school.

碩士
國立臺灣科技大學
應用外語系
106
This study aimed to adapt an EFL reading curriculum for the purpose of facilitating learners with ADHD in an inclusive classroom through using a multisensory approach. The purpose was to provide teachers with methods that would foster a learning environment conducive to all learners regardless of learning ability because of the increasing number of struggling learners attending private language schools in Taiwan. Ten fourth and fifth grade EFL children, five with and five without ADHD, attending such a school located in Taipei, were involved for a total of 60-hour instruction (lasting six weeks) to attest whether the multisensory approach helped improve reading comprehension and motivation, and whether they were satisfied with this curriculum and in what ways. The curriculum developed in this study was inspired by the Orton-Gillingham approach (1937), which pioneered the use of the multisensory method to teaching L1 reading. In this EFL context, the supplemental extension activities required to complete this approach, i.e. TPR, storyboarding, and reader’s theater, have been confirmed to be effective for ADHD learners that have trouble with traditional methods (Hughes, 2014). Creswell’s (2007) mechanism was adopted for analysis by coding, developing themes, describing and interpreting the collected data. Multiple sources of data were collected to ensure trustworthiness and triangulation: teacher’s field notes, classroom observation, participant’s storyboards, audio-recorded interviews and attitude questionnaires. Member checking also took place to add credibility to the transcribed audio-recorded interviews. The extracted themes in the findings illustrate emerging behavioral changes in the students with ADHD and a corresponding improvement in comprehension. The students with ADHD initially expressed a dislike of reading, performed poorly on comprehension worksheets, and had low motivation for reading aloud. Over the 60-hour instruction, the same students achieved an average of 8.6% greater accuracy on comprehension and exhibited increased eagerness to participate in reading aloud by raising their hands and asking to read. Students with and without ADHD began to collaborate during readers theater and encouraged one another in the storyboarding activities. In light of such a drastic change in student’s behavior and attitudes, further research with a larger sample is warranted.

Multi-sensory nutrition education interventions aimed at promoting children’s preferences for vegetables have the potential to positively impact children’s intake of essential micronutrients and phytochemicals. We implemented our intervention in Western Massachusetts Head Start preschool classrooms, as part of Massachusetts Farm Fresh research project. Social cognitive theory, early childhood developmental milestones, and the play approach to learning provided the framework. During the 4-week intervention, eight vegetables were matched by appearance and growing process to create vegetable pairs (green bean-sugar snap pea, broccoli-cauliflower, beet-radish, and carrot-parsnip). Each week, two animal puppets introduced the children in the classroom to the vegetable pairs by highlighting the vegetable’s color, shape, texture, and growth process. Complete baseline and follow-up consumption data were available for 60 three to five year old children. Total mean consumption (g) increased pre-post intervention (pre: 14.75 + 1.38 vs. post: 17.83 + 2.05 g) (p= 0.06). Specifically, mean consumption (g) increased for peas (pre: 1.32 + 0.26 vs. post: 2.03 + 0.36 g) (p=0.04), parsnips (pre: 1.31 + 0.24 vs. post: 2.06 + 0.35 g) (p=0.04), and for the high-sugar content vegetables (pre: 7.41 + 0.82 vs. post: 9.75 +1.14 g) (p=0.02). Mean consumption of the red and white colored vegetables respectively were (pre: 2.66 + 0.41 vs. post: 3.68 + 0.54 g) (p=0.07) and (pre: 2.81 + 0.46 vs. post: 3.93 + 0.61) (p=0.08). Findings suggest that a puppet based nutrition education intervention highlighting the sensory attributes has the potential to increase young children’s consumption of vegetables.

The contribution of deficits in limb position sense to the motor impairments of children with cerebral palsy, as well as other neurodevelopmental disorders, is increasingly being recognized. A more complete understanding of the development of multi-joint upper limb position sense is needed and has been limited, to date, by the absence of a reliable measurement technique to produce clinically meaningful information. The KINARM Exoskeleton’s bilateral position matching task, which involves passive movement of one of the subject’s arms to one of eight positions requiring different combinations of elbow and shoulder positions and active matching by the participant’s other arm, was evaluated for interrater and retest reliability. Intraclass correlation coefficients, absolute difference, minimum detectable difference that would be considered a significant change in performance, standard error of the measure, coefficient of variation, index of reliability, limit of agreement and confidence intervals were used to determine reliability on three measures of multi-joint position sense: (1) inter-trial variability in end-point position, (2) the ratio between actual and matched position, or spatial contraction/expansion, which provides a measure of the absolute accuracy of position matching, and (3) systematic errors in matching. Interrater index of reliability was very good to excellent with values of 72% for systematic errors in matching to 93% for contraction/expansion. Interrater intraclass correlation values were fair to excellent at 0.46 for systematic errors in matching to 0.81 for contraction/expansion. Standard errors in measurement were low and ranged from 0.002 to 0.06, for inter-trial variability and contraction/expansion respectively. Similarly, minimal detectable difference values for retest reliability ranged from 0.005 for inter-trial variability to 0.161 for contraction/expansion. Retest intraclass correlation values were fair to excellent at 0.38 for systematic errors in matching to 0.82 for contraction/expansion. Moderate to strong interrater and retest reliability and high measurement precision support the use of robot-based assessment of multi-joint position sense for developmental studies and promises to be a reliable clinical and research tool in the advancement of knowledge on sensory-motor coordination difficulties in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Thesis (Master, Rehabilitation Science) -- Queen's University, 2011-09-29 05:43:47.255

碩士
國立臺北教育大學
藝術與造形設計學系碩士班
98
Abstract This research utilizes Instructional System Design (ISD) as course research tool. The teaching theme draws its inspiration from the artistic and highly-valued “First Time Shopping” picture book and a set of multi-sensory teaching materials design course is developed that allows young children to actively learn and investigate on their own initiative that will guide them into the wonderful world of arts and beauty. The researcher first conducts literature review and follows the logical procedure of teaching design cycle – course planning, analysis, design, development, application, evaluation and amendment phases – to develop an applicable study course for young children. Action research methodology is employed and the researcher acts as the teacher, researcher and teaching materials designer; the research subjects are the young children in the teacher/researcher’s class. Throughout the action research process, valuable information and data are collected through literature review, document analysis, participation, observation and interview, complemented with recordings, videos, teaching manuscripts, teaching reflections, observations and records, young children learning worksheets, parents and assistants’ feedback forms. The findings of the research have been verified through the study. The researcher summarizes the findings and recommendations, to provide future teachers to actively participate in curriculum planning and reference model.

碩士
國立嘉義大學
特殊教育學系研究所
97
This study aimed to investigate the effects of using Snoezelen as multi-sensory stimulation to improve the behavioral problems of one students with severe mental retardation and the other student with Tourette’s syndrome. This research adopted a single subject design—ABAB reversal design in which independent variable was the interventions of multi-sensory stimulation and the dependent variables were the distraction behavior frequency, stereotyped behavior frequency and the physiological measures of the subject. Throughout the eight-month period of the study, the subject participated in the package project. Besides, the blood pressures and the heart rates of the subject were separately measured at the beginning of each experiment, right after the intervention of the multi-sensory stimulation and at the end of each experiment. The whole process was monitored and recorded without the knowledge of the subject. The results of the research were summarized as follows. (1) The Multi-sensory stimulation reduced the distraction behavior of the two subjects. (2) The Multi-sensory stimulation decreased the stereotyped behavior of the subject with severe mental retardation. - iii - (3) During the intervention of Multi-sensory stimulation, the heart rates of the subjects decreased with the decrease of behavioral problems.

碩士
國立雲林科技大學
設計運算研究所碩士班
96
Based on theories of ear training, people are most sensitive to sound in early childhood. Even though the Ministry of Education has implemented the “Nine-year Universal compulsory Education System,” this study has discoverd that students lack interest in music education. Therefore, this study focused on the expected goal in which children would enhance their interests in ear training and music if they were trained under the multi-sensory study program and they would develop a better interactional relationship with the training game system. The ”multi-sensory of interactive experience” experience combines verbal, visual factors and body language as different perspectives in order to gradually seek for a practical path step by step. The purpose of the study was to following: 1), help children to learn from situated learning, and increase their interests for ear training, 2). use “Learning to multi-sense” method to analysis different interactive devices, and 3). during the development process, use action research to revise the outlook and interface of the product. The expected goals of the study are the following: 1), the implementation of ear training in game design aims to be versatile, and enhances interaction of the interface gadget, 2). the use of this interactive gadget helps children in multi-sensor learning, and 3). this research based on three “well-documented” exhibitions shows the whole design process and compares their differences. Hopefully, this research will contribute to hearing sensory of interactive gadgets.

Increasing tourism numbers in third world countries affect their economies and certain aspects of their society positively; however, there are concomitant negative effects that expose the dark side of the tourism industry. One of these is the escalating commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), particularly child prostitution (CP) in the context of tourism, a phenomenon known as child sex tourism (CST). Although tourism plays an important role in creating the perfect storm of poverty-stricken children colliding with wealthy tourists, it is not solely responsible for this phenomenon. Internationally and nationally, the lacuna of knowledge on CST in particular hampers an informed response by way of resource allocation and coordinated service delivery to both victims and perpetrators. Utilising a qualitative research approach, and the collective case study and phenomenological research designs complemented by an explorative, descriptive and contextual strategy of inquiry, the researcher explored the status of the knowledge of and response to the CSEC through the lens of closely associated role players, who were purposively selected for inclusion in the study. These were adult survivors who were as children engaged in sex work and victims of child sex tourism, social workers and non-social workers involved in rendering child welfare and protection services, members of the Family Violence Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and representatives of the hospitality and tourism industry. Data was collected via individual in-depth semi-structured interviews, telephone interviews, and email-communication and thematically analysed. The researcher found that a range of microsystem level factors, such as poverty and family dysfunction, pushed children to the street, and as a means to survive engage in sex work, enabling tourists (i.e. local - out of towners) and foreigners, mainly men from varied sexual orientation) to commercially sexually exploit both boys and girls, from as young as nine years of age, and of different race groups, which leave them with physical and psychological scars. The following main findings surfaced: The social workers, in comparison to the non-social workers, who have a primary responsibility to provide child welfare and protection services were ill-informed in terms of identifying CST as phenomenon, untrained and/or slow to respond appropriately with interventions directed to the victims and perpetrators of CSEC. The service provider groups, as microsystems interfacing on a mesosystem, were fraught with perceptions that the social workers and the SAPS were being inadequate. Furthermore a lack of cooperation, collaboration and communication between the service provider groups to respond to CSEC existed. The hospitality and tourism industry service representatives were also ill-informed about the phenomena of CP and CST with a response that at best can be labelled as fluctuating between an indirect response to that of turning a blind-eye. From the findings, recommendations for social work practice, education and training and recommendations specific for the other closely associated role players in responding to the CSEC were forwarded.
Social Work
D.Phil. (Social Work)

Summaries in Afrikaans and English
Die doel van hierdie studie was om te bepaat of 'n hulpverleningsprogram die laerskoolleerder wat taalhindemisse ervaar kan help om sy probleme op 'n kreatiewe wyse te benader. 'n Algemene oorsig van leerhindemisse wat laerskoolleerders ervaar, is gegee. lndien 'n leerder taalhindernisse ervaar, sal dit 'n direkte invloed op sy ander skoolvakke ook he omdat taal vir die leeraksie benodig word. Die kreatiwiteitsbegrip is ook van naderby beskou. Kreatiwiteit kan as die skep van iets wat oorspronklik, maar ook bruikbaar is, gedefinieer word. Dit sluit egter ook die Ie van ongewone verbande tussen twee of meer sake of voorwerpe in. Die program wat ontwikkel is, het as onderbou die teorie oor taalintelligensie van Howard Gardner, 'n opvoedkundige sielkundige aan Harvard Universiteit. Gardner meen dit is deur 'n kreatiewe ingesteldheid, multisensoriese tegnieke en gepaste leerstyle rnoontlik om taalintelligensie teverbeter. Hy is van mening dat taalintelligensie nie iets is wat op 'n bepaalde tydstip gemeet kan word en onveranderd bly nie. Soos met alle intellektuele vermoens, kan taalvaardighede ook uitgebrei en ontwikkel word. Beproefde remedierende tegnieke, wat reeds deur die navorser in die praktyk met welslae uitgetoets is, is op 'n vars, nuwe manier .in die hulpverleningsprogram gebruik. Die hulpverleningsprogram het op die verbetering van perseptuele, mondelinge stelwerk-,lees- en spellingvaardighede gefokus. Dit het gedurende die empiriese studie duidelik geword dat leerders wat op 'n bepaalde leergebied nie na wense presteer nie, dikwels 'n "sielkundige blokkasie" ten opsigte van daardie leerareas ontwikkel. Hulle assosieer Jaasgenoemde in die meeste gevalle met leeronvermoe en leermislukking. Die enigste manier om hierdie gevoel van leermagteloosheid aan te spreek, is om die problematiese leerareas met 'n minder ernstige akademiese aanslag, waarin die pret-element sterk aanwesig is, te benader. Wanneer die leeraksie as 'n aangename ondervindingervaar word, kan leerders hulle leervrese aanspreek en meer waagmoedig begin optree.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the success of an innovative support programme aimed at assisting primary school learners with language barriers to overcome these. An overview was given of learning barriers primary school learners may experience. A learner with a language barrier will find that the other learning areas are negatively influenced because language is essential for learning. The concept of creativity, defined as the creation of something original, yet useful, was adhered to. It included the idea that creativity allows for the connecting of unrelated issues or objects. The theories of Howard Gardner, an educational psychologist at Harvard University, concerning language intelligence, supported this study. According to Gardner it is possible to improve language intelligence through creative awareness, multi-sensory techniques and appropriate learning styles. Gardner postulates that language, as in the case of other intellectual abilities, can be developed and expanded. Remedial techniques successfully used by the researcher in practice, have been presented in this support programme in a novel and innovative form. The creative support programme compiled for this thesis focused on the 1 improvement of perceptual, oral, reading and spelling skills. The need for a more informal support approach was evident in the empirical research of this study. Learners sometimes develop a "psychological block" when experiencing repeated difficulties in a specific learning area. Such learners associate these difficulties with failures and the inability to learn. In order to overcome the experience of learning dispair, the feelings of anxiety associated with the problem learning area, have to be replaced with a less rigid approach in which play encourages feelings of enjoyment and ease. When learning becomes a pleasant experience, learners start overcoming their fears and become risk takers.
Psychology of Education
D. Ed. (Sielkundige Opvoedkunde)