Analysis of Learning Activities Dynamics among First-Graders with Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract

Introduction. The article is devoted to the issue of learning activity of first-graders with intellectual disabilities, the relevance of which is dictated by the search for factors of effectiveness of the educational process. In the theory and practice of remedial education of learners of the studied category much attention is paid to their learning skills in the learning process, but for the first time the most significant in the dynamics of the ratio of opportunities and achievements in mastering the content of the adapted educational program is considered. The purpose of the study is to analyze the learning opportunities and the results of the performance of academic tasks in the subject areas of adapted programs by first graders with intellectual disabilities. Materials and Methods. The sample included 95 first-graders with intellectual disabilities. The following methods were used to process research results: standardized observation to explore learning opportunities and learning outcomes; pedagogical testing to study the results of the implementation of educational tasks in accordance with the subject areas of the adapted training programs (Russian, mathematics, etc.); Wilcoxon T-test, Spearman correlation analysis, principal component factor analysis followed by varimax-normalized matrix rotation, Statistica version 10. Results. We identified statistically significant variance in the structure of correlations between learning opportunities and the results of completing educational tasks in the subject areas of adapted programs at the current and intermediate cut in subjects studying for options 1 and 2 of ABEP. We have noted the variability of the factor structure of learning opportunities and the results of the implementation of educational tasks in the subject areas of ABEP at the current and intermediate cut in both groups. We found obvious advantages of practice-oriented skills in assignments in subjects such as visual activity, music, manual labor, etc. and the ways of their implementation (by joint actions, by showing and imitating) over verbal assignments (in subjects – Russian language, mathematics, reading, etc.) and methods of their implementation (orally, according to verbal instructions), which allows us to consider the importance of the practice-oriented skills in teaching first-graders with intellectual disabilities. Discussion and Conclusion. The results of empirical research make a significant contribution to special pedagogy, to its methodological resource, as they expand not only the understanding of the possibilities and results of learning of modern learners with intellectual disabilities, but specify the determinants of the dynamics of their learning activities.