Use of communication media for the search and development of mental abilities among Persons with Intellectual/ Developmental Disability(IDD)

1. USE OF COMMUBICATION
MEDIA FOR THE PERSONS
WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILTY
BY
DR. ASHA DESHPANDE

2. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
 USE OF COMMUBICATION MEDIA FOR THE
SEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF MENTAL
ABILITIES AMONG PERSONS WITH
INTELLECTUAL DISABILTY
 BY
 DR. ASHA DESHPANDE

3. Justification of the topic
 To find out what the person with IDDhas and
not to stress what he lacks
 To facilitate the process of learning
 The use of the media by the teacherwill not only
make the learning of differently able more
effective, but will also make it interesting by
reducing the boredom.
 To workforthe retention of these abilities,
which deteriorate among the differently able
adults but are very much present among themin
youth and up to 40 years of age.

4. Selected abilities
These abilities are the mental skills orthe competencies, which are necessary
forthe effective learning to take place..
Following abilities are studied
 Ability to differentiate.
 Ability of association.
 Concept development – colour, spatial relations, size.
 Ability of appreciation.
 Memory.
 Ability of communication.
 Selective attention.
 Ability of prioritization.
 Understanding.

5. ABILITIES ESSENTIAL FORLEARNING
Capacity to Differentiate :
Capacity to differentiate is one’s ability to show unlikeness between two objects. It is the ability to
distinguish between different objects and items, by finding the similarities and differences, and thus
grouping together items with similar characteristics. (Dictionary meaning)
Capacity to differentiate depends upon the perception. On the basis of one’s own perception an
individual determines the figures from his environment and on the basis of these figures, he
differentiates between different “figures” or items in the environment.
Selective attention
A human being living in an environment receives continuous inflow of various stimuli, which are
brought to him by his sense organs viz, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin. From among the many stimuli,
he selects and consciously, reacts to only those that are related to his present needs and interests, as
he cannot attend to all. This process of psychological focusing or selecting of the sense organs to a
particular object is called an attention. Attention can be defined as the process of preferentially
responding to a stimulus or range of stimuli. Selective attention is attending some, specialized aspect
from the message, along with attending the whole message.
Concept Development (Concept of spatial relations, size, Color)
Conceptual and intellectual development includes movement from an abstract to a concrete level. In
the development of concepts, recognizing the essential feature on the part of the learner is essential.
Special relationship involves the recognition of an object’s position in space as well as the recognition
of object’s location in relation to another.
The development of the concept of size or size constancy by and large determines how we see the
world around us, which supports the learning process of an individual.
color is the perceptual result of light, Thus colour is a visual sensation obtained from an object,
substance or surface in respect of the wavelength of light which it reflects or transmits

6. Abilities essential forlearning
 Understanding : The term understanding has the common meaning as an immediate
sense of comprehension or of empathy – understanding also means the ability to use
acquired knowledge in new situation and an ability to acquire new information.
Appreciation capacity: Appreciation capacity refers to our capacity to enjoy beauty in all
of its manifold forms – nature, art, music, dance, literature and poetry
 Memory is defined as the ability to recall or remember past events or previously learned
information or skills. It is through memory that the experience of past, influences our present
thought, plans and actions. Memory is essential for learning.
 Different aspects of Memory :-
 Fixation, retention, recall and recognition.
 Fixation : It is the act of learning : or getting the impression.
 Retention: Is the storing of information in the form of impressions.
 Recognition:It involves remembering whether one has seen a stimulus before,
 that is, whether the stimulus is familiar.
 Recall : It involves remembering the details of a situation or idea and placing them together in a
meaningful framework.
Capacity to communicate : This refers to our ability to make ourselves understood to
others most often through speech, but also through the written words, gesture, sign
language, and the artistic modes of literature, poetry, air, dance and music (Baroff
1996)1. It also refers to our ability to transmit information to others. It is our capacity of
sharing experiences and relating to others.

7. Abilities essential forlearning
 The Capacity of Association
It implies forming connections between stimulus events in the environment and
giving response on the basis of these connections. The capacity to associate also
helps to remember and learn the complex task by decomposing it into a set of
hierarchically arranged subtasks.
 The ability of Prioritization
It implies the person’s ability of sequencing. It is the ability by which a
person gives a sequence or an order to the various stimuli in a given
framework according to their occurrence or importance

8. Media selected to study the abilities
 Audio
 Video
 print (Picture)

9. THEME OF THE MESSAGE
THE THEME OF
ANIMALS WAS
USED FOR THE
THREE SELECTED
MEDIA OF AUDIO,
VEDIO & PRINT

10. Judging the presence, absence and extent of abilities
 1.What did you see in Peshwe Park apart from animals and birds? 2 Which
birds did you see in Peshwe Park apart from animals? Capacity to
differentiate
 What were the names of lions, elephants, tigers in the Peshwe Park? attention
 Where was boat sailing. Concept of Spatial relations
 From where does the train passes by? Concept of Spatial relations
 Where are children playing in Peshwe Park? Concept of Spatial relations
 Which is the bigger animal between elephant and pigeon which you saw in
Peshwe Park?- Concept of size
 What is the colour of tiger?What is the colour of casovari? Concept of colour
 Where were the children playing in Peshwe Park?
 Have you visited this park before?
 b) With whom? Capacity of Associate
 Which park we are visiting?
What did you like most in Peshwe Park? And why? Appreciation Capacity
 Which are the different types of deer you see in Peshwe Park?
 Which are the different types of monkeys you see in Peshwe Park?
 What was monkey doing in Peshwe Park?
 What was peacock doing in Peshwe Park? Memory
 What noise does the train makes?
 What noise does the tiger makes? Ability to communicate
 Which animal did you see first? Ability to prioritize
2.

11. Effectiveness of different media
 It was found that audio medium could be effectively used to develop several abilities like
prioritizing, association, differentiation, understanding, selective attention, appreciation,
concept development and iconic memory among the person with IDD
 The study revealed, that audio medium was effective in developing and strengthening the
concept of spatial relationship and understanding for normal children.
 The technical simplicity and the habit formation of audio medium enhanced the utility of
audio medium for mentally challenged for developing several mental abilities, whereas for
the normal children as they have an access to varied educational interventions, they find
audio as a too simple technology, to make an significant impact on the development of
mental abilities.
 The study showed that video emerged is a powerful medium in developing differentiation,
appreciation, communication, and prioritization among normal. Whereas, video being
technically complex for mentally challenged can be used to develop only few abilities like
memory, communication, and spatial concepts.
 The research revealed that video has more entertainment value for the differently able
rather than educational value. On the contrary video has more educational significance for
normal.
 The study showed that print (picture) is the most powerful medium for the differently able
and it could be successfully used for developing abilities like association, differentiation
memory and concept development.

12. Effectiveness of different media
 This is due to the very simple nature of the print medium. With static picture frames, clear
colours and figures, it is successful in making significant impact on the developmental process
of abilities. This was also true in case of normal children of very small age.
 Thus it could be concluded that differently able as well as young normal children benefit a lot
from the print (pictures) medium in the developmental process of their abilities.
 It was observed that among the mentally challenged the abilities develop between the physical
ages of 18 to 30 years, whereas these abilities were found mostly on higher level among the
normal children of 2 to 8 years.

 The study revealed that the basic abilities, which are necessary for effective learning, are
present among the differently able. But they need multiple powerful interventions for detection
and enhancement of these abilities to overcome their multiple handicaps.

 The media of audio, video and print (pictures) can provide the significant interventions
necessary for the ability building among the differently able. They can support and supplement
the human efforts and can even facilitate the independent learning among the borderline
mentally challenged.

13. Biological Variables Social Variables
1. Gender 1. Socio-economic status
2. Chronological age a. Type of house
3. Mental Age b. Parental education
4. Ordinal position of the subject in
the family
c. Monthly income of parents
5. Previous medical history d. Family type
6. Causes of mental retardation 2. Age at which the problem was
detected by parents
7. Milestones 3. Peergroup intervention
8. 4. Social adaptability (conjugated
scale)
9. 5. Type of previous schooling
10 6. Years of previous schooling

14. HABITAT

15. ORDINAL PLACE
1st and 2nd ordinal position of the mentally challenged is conducive for their
ability development

16. PEER GROUP INTERACTION
Interaction with peers of same age orhigherage group,
Interaction with peers of same age orhigherage group,
acceptan of the mentally challenged by the peers helps the
ability development of the mentally challenged.
Interaction with peers of same age or
higher age group,acceptance of the
mentally challenged by the peers helps
the ability development of the mentally
challenged.

17. AWARENESS OF THE PARENTS
 THE BETTER AND THE EARLIER THE
AWARENESS OF THE PARENTS ABOUT
THE NATURE,NEEDS,CONDITIONS OF THE
MENTAL RETEARDATION THE BETTER IS
THE ABILITY BUILDING.

18. INTEGRATION &NORMALIZATION
EARLY SCHOOLING AND INTEGRATION OF THE MENTALLY CHALLENGED IN THE
NORMAL SCHOOLIS CONDUSIVE FOR THE ABILITY DEVELOPMENT OF THE
MENTALLY CHALLENGED.

19. In modern times…
 The computers, software packages
combining various media and World Wide
Web can be effectively used in the
modern times for the purpose of
education of the differently able.

20. THANK YOU