The semantic network structure is a core aspect of the mental lexicon and is, therefore, a key to understanding language development processes. This study investigated the structure of the semantic network of adolescents with intellectual disability (ID) and children with typical development (TD) using network analysis. The semantic networks of the participants (nID = 66; nTD = 49) were estimated from the semantic verbal fluency task with the pathfinder method. The groups were matched on the number of produced words. The average shortest path length (ASPL), the clustering coefficient (CC), and the network’s modularity (Q) of the two groups were compared. A significantly smaller ASPL and Q and a significantly higher CC were found for the adolescents with ID in comparison with the children with TD. Reasons for this might be differences in the language environment and differences in cognitive skills. The quality and quantity of the language input might differ for adolescents with ID due to differences in school curricula and because persons with ID tend to engage in different out-of-school activities compared to TD peers. Future studies should investigate the influence of different language environments on the language development of persons with ID.
The purpose of the study was to evaluate whether students with intellectual disabilities (ID) can improve their arithmetic skills by participating in an arithmetic intervention programme, theoretically founded on explicit instruction (EI) and administered via an application developed for tablet computers. The intervention study used a randomised controlled trial design (RCT) (n = 30, aged 10-16, 13 females) and lasted for up to 12 weeks. The results show that the intervention group significantly improved in arithmetic fact fluency compared to the controls and the effects remained six months after the intervention. The effects were larger for subtraction than for addition, and this difference remained six months later. These results suggest that mathematics applications based on explicit instruction can be an effective way of teaching arithmetic facts to youth with mild ID.
This study examined if children (M age = 14.60) with Mild Intellectual Disabilities (MID) display weaknesses in number processing and verbal working memory. An age-matched and mental age-matched (MA, M age = 6.17) design extended by a group of 9-10-year-olds, and a group of 11-12-year-olds were used. The MID children's working memory was equal to the MA group but poorer than the other groups. On number tasks, the MID group was faster than the MA group but slower than the other groups. All groups obtained equal Weber fraction scores and distance effects on the number comparison tasks. The MID group performed subitizing and counting faster than the MA group, but slower than the 11-12-year-olds. The results demonstrate that number processing and working memory in children with MID is characterized by a developmental delay, not a deficit. Their main problem is to access the quantitative meaning of Arabic numerals. The development of different types of cognitive abilities is differently affected by educational experience and intellectual ability. The innate number system appears to be unaffected by intellectual capacity or educational experience, while the innate working memory ability is affected by intellectual capacity but not by educational experience. Culturally acquired symbolic number abilities are strongly affected by educational experience.
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