Learning Process for People with Mental Disabilities

People with mental disabilities are able to learn, but learn best through a step by step process. This should be carefully designed because an ineffective learning method can easily work at counter-purposes by turning the disabled off of learning. The United Na-tion guideline [UN 1995:2] provides these criteria consideraNa-tion in physical planning and design of a learning environment:

• Accessibility

• Reach ability

• Usability

• Safety

• Workability

• Barrier-free or non-handicapping

Disorders in learning can appear in educational, social, self-skills, communication and daily life-skills. Nikolai discusses some teaching techniques to be considered in learning design for the mentally disabled [Nikolai]. These techniques can be summarized as fol-low:

• Breaking the learning blocks and tasks into several small learning nuggets.

• Keeping in mind that people with mental disabilities tend to be visual and viewable. An increased use of visual objects such as charts, graphics, and videos can help them to remember better.

• Focusing on a particular attribute of a task. Simplifying the tasks and avoiding complicated structures.

• Using clustered strategies with respect to short-term memory of learners, also repetition of materials over periods of time.

• People with mental disabilities are not aware of peripheral information in con-text. In these cases the instructor should provide facts and additional informa-tion.

• Using immediate feedback, to help them establish a connection between answers or behaviors and the instructor’s response.

• Being sure after every process that the learner gains a sense of satisfaction. This factor contributes to motivating the learner to learn more in subsequent sessions.

Instructors need to analyze learning activities and interactions carefully before imple-menting them in a system. The analysis should be based on learner ability, synthetic skills¹, learning environment and system technical support [Nikolai]. Enough exercises, feedback, repetition and emphasis should be provided throughout the learning process.

Pitsch points to the use of sensory perception concurrent with touch and movement stimulation (if applicable) in combination with word and picture activities [Pitsch 2003:130]. The time to complete every activity should be calculated, as the disabled usually need more time to complete work. Learning sessions need to be broken into small segments appropriate to the learner’s stamina and capacity. Pitsch discusses the tactile learning style of people with mental disabilities [Pitsch 2003:131]:

“The mentally disabled learn less through listening, writing down, read-ing and understandread-ing than through watchread-ing and imitatread-ing, or havread-ing their movements physically guided by the teacher or trainer or steered through demonstration”.

With mobile learning the mentally disabled can engage in real-time situations making learner-appropriate movements, and observations instead of sitting in isolation at a desktop computer. Mobile technologies address the special difficulties of transferring knowledge from the classroom to context by fostering the learning processes directly within the context of use (in real life with mobile devices). To ensure that the learner is engaged with the learning material, he becomes part of the learning process. This kind of interaction tends to provide better memorization and recall of work procedures.

Current technology provides opportunities for learners to control their learning process [Laurillard 2002]. It gives learners the chance to adapt to the learning environment and learn at their own rate according to their own preferences. But in the learning process for people with mental disabilities this option should be changed and limited. They should be guided by the program towards the learning steps and exercises, but not with

1 Synthetic skills: The ability to smoothly combine data and to integrate a complex multitude of data into a coherent whole. Being able to present alternatives and to develop them into a convincing conclusion.

Source: https://admin.kuleuven.be/personeel/competentieprofiel/en/skills.html (Last viewed: 12 Aug.

respect to the learning speed. In other words, they need a flexible learning speed but a fixed structure managed by their instructor(s). Within this fixed structure, learners should be able to select and customize their learning process. Suta and colleague say [Suta et al. 2007:190]:

“Psychic (mental) processes like sensation, perception, representation, thinking and imagination are fundamentals for the learning ability. The efficiency of learning activities depends on the specific features of these mental processes and functions, which are part of the complex structure of the personality of each pupil.”

In this way, Chen points to the following principles of pedagogy, which should be con-sidered in a learning process [Chen et al. 2002:1]:

• Urgency of learning need

• Initiative of knowledge acquisition

• Mobility of learning setting

• Interactivity of learning process

• Situations of instructional activities

• Integration of instructional content

From the principles mentioned, the last three are crucial for learning processes of people with mental disabilities. According to input from disability experts and teachers in Bre-men schools and our workshop experience, we may conclude that learning approaches for this target group does not require slow learning, but instead a presentation of the learning material in a way which is understandable for learners which might be slow at particular junctures.

In this approach, different parameters are the basis of the learning process. These pa-rameters such as the mental level, learner’s memory ability, user preferences, user be-havior etc. can affect the software’s decision algorithms for a particular user. The results of these parameter experiments provide the background rationale for their weights and prioritization.

Literature recommends reducing redundant loads of content which learners should memorize [Pitsch 2003][Sierra 2006][Speck 1993]. As an example, Sierra refers to the following memory exercise and shows how effective the type of learning content pres-entation can be [Sierra 2006]. For a learning activity, the learner is asked to memorize (Figure 14) code symbols in part (a) without looking to part (b) within 30 seconds (part

“b” is hidden for the first phase of activity).

Figure 14: Memory exercise of code symbols [Sierra 2006].

A normal learner and in best case can memorize just 60% within 30 seconds. In work-shops we tested similar exercises with the mentally disabled, and the average result was below 10%. With a simple change in the presentation of these code symbols and pre-senting them with a meaningful connection to a context and memorable pattern, the learner would be able to memorize it even within less than 30 seconds. By presenting part (b) for the learners, the memorizing results for this activity with normal learners became 100% and for people with learning disabilities became over 75%¹.

This small description of the memory capacity should cover the characteristics of the conceptualization and design of learning content and steps for the mentally disabled. In the following with a detailed view including examples we analyze the specifications of the design of learning materials within this context.

Figure 15: Non-digital learning material sample used in Bremen schools for different levels of disability.

Figure 15 shows a sample of non-digital learning materials to test different levels of disability. In part (a) which is for moderate and severe disabled, they have to identify the shape in the picture and its related name “Loni”. Part (b) is appropriate for the mild level and they have to identify the two shapes in the picture and write the same name under the given names. Part (c) is appropriate for the borderline level they have to dis-tinguish the two shapes in the picture from each other and try to order the letters in the right positions.

The designing of learning materials for different levels is a time-consuming task. Pitsch lists key criteria for instructors and content designers to consider in their design¹ [Pitsch 2003:137-138]:

• Setting clear goals of learning for learner.

• Trying to build a connection between content and contexts for the learners.

• Trying giving them feeling of autonomy in learning.

1 The criteria are edited by author based on individual literature reviews, but mostly on Pitsch criteria.

• Providing learners with feelings of self-assurance and self-confidence.

• Using animation characters to put them in a semi-social communicative learning mode.

• Using meaningful signals in learning environments and teaching these though schemas for appropriate signals.

• Replacing words with models, pictures, and figures in many cases.

• Analyzing actions and synthesize partial actions as well as a clear demonstra-tion.

• Giving direct guides and avoiding indirect help.

• Speaking clearly and distinctly.

• Using short and concise sentences.

• Providing the learner with repetition of concepts.

• Organizing and combining several modes of sensory perception.

• Being sure to included praise and encouragement within the design even for minimum progress.

• Motivating, reassuring and encouraging the learner constantly throughout the process.

• Correcting mistakes immediately with positive meaningful controlled feedback.

• Giving enough time to accomplish the activities (Patience).

• Breaking and stopping during the process, as necessary.

• Avoiding unnecessary assistance.

Implementing these criteria should result in a learning process of high quality learner performance.