Abstract

Intellectually disabled (ID) children lack adaptive skills and have difficulty initiating conversation as they have deficiency in language areas. Also they have difficulty in verbal expression which is more prominent compared to receptive language requiring extra support. To improve language and memory retrieval, techniques providing optimum learning are essential. Color raises the probability of stimulus to be encoded, retained and remembered; hence this study was conducted with the aim to explore the efficacy of color coding approach for three word phrase development in mild to moderate ID children and to develop language at phrase level. This interventional study was conducted at Hamza Foundation, Rawalpindi, Pakistan over a period of six months. A total of 20 children diagnosed with mild and moderate ID fulfilling selection criteria were recruited through non probability consecutive sampling. Following assessment of nouns and verbs, three general culturally adopted phrases: boy eats apple, boy brushes teeth, girl washes hands; and three color flash cards: green for object, yellow for verb and orange for subject, were used for intervention in 5 steps along with language development form for monitoring. Intervention and monitoring of child performance was done in 6 sessions per phrase (2 sessions per week, each of 25-30 minutes duration) and response time noted. Mean time response was calculated and compared for all 6 sessions for all 3 phrases. Results revealed considerable decrease in mean response time of the children across all sessions, thus proving that color coding approach had positive effect on phrase development in mild and moderate intellectually disabled (ID) children. Also the approach was effective regardless of child’s gender, age and severity of ID.

Key words: Colorful semantics, Intellectual disability, Learning disability