Collaboration with teachers for development of literacy program for pupils with an intellectual disability

Important results from the project

The aim of the project is to create possibilities for cooperation between teachers and researchers in order to make literacy teaching support to children with intellectual disabilities (ID) more effective. The goal was to develop literacy teaching support for children with ID in grades 1-5. The goal of the project is met. Cooperation between teachers and researchers resulted in a prototype to an interactive book AMIGOS (Decoding, Motivation, Interactivity, Community, Context).

Expected long term effects

An interactive e-book, AMIGOS, has been developed in collaboration between researchers and teachers. In the book, children meet four friends who participate in activities, which all children recognize. In each chapter, 2-3 alphabet letters are introduced and interactive exercises on letter knowledge, phonemic awareness and reading comprehension. Three chapters in the book have been developed in program Smarboard notebook. Children showed high engagement and interest in the activities.

Approach and implementation

The researcher attended the school to observe the teachers’ lessons, discuss ideas and test these ideas with the children. The original idea of using folk tales in learning was soon abandoned and was followed by a period of studying children’s learning profiles and existing literacy materials. New literacy activities were developed and tested. Combination of teachers’ experience-based knowledge and researcher’s knowledge of the research field resulted in literacy program AMIGOS.