Abstract:

Learning is the process by which the individual undergoes changes in behaviour and performance, reorganizes the structures of thought and discovers new ways of acting (Penteado, 1979). However, there are specific groups of students, such as those with intellectual disabilities, can see compromise the learning process because of their own individual characteristics.

In this context, special educational needs (SEN) became an important field in learning process and according to the author (Nielsen, 1997), intellectual disability is part of the permanent list of SEN, i.e., a group that needs curricular adaptations to reach their potential in curricular terms as in functional areas for independent living (Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities, 2013).

In the literature, it is shown that students with intellectual disabilities need learning strategies that are educational complements, additional or different from those normally used in the regular teaching method (Reis, 2011). Moreover, several authors affirmed multimedia technologies can enable the creation of an entirely new learning environments, significantly increasing effectiveness, efficiency and sophistication of teaching activities. Technology can help participants develop basic skills, such as: making choices, expressing their consent or opposition, as well as achieving higher personal development goals. Also, it can improve student learning, since can be more accessible, giving the opportunity to experience new knowledge (Hoogerwerf, 2016).

Therefore, it seems relevant an in-depth study on teaching methods implemented with students with SEN, to confirm the validity of the methods used and compare different methodologies. For that, in this paper it is presented the analysis on teaching methods to help learning of specific content for people with intellectual disabilities. The purpose of this analysis is to compare strategies used in traditional and technology-based education to be the start point to develop an effective learning multimedia resource for this specific audience.

Based on the studies presented and analyzed, the main conclusions reaffirmed prior knowledge. I.e., there are advantages in the use of multimedia technologies in learning for students with intellectual disabilities, however, it should be considered some problems that may arise, such as: formation of teachers, the technology development and the usability of it. Even so, it is considered as probable that students with intellectual disability can benefit from the use of technology, since personalized pedagogical support, visual content and feedback are considered adequate resources for this group of students.

As future work, we will study if this target audience achieves significant results in learning of a foreign language, by using an application specifically designed for the purpose. Also, we intend to evaluate usability through user testing to compare learning with two methods, traditional and technology-based education.

Keywords:

Multimedia, intellectual disabilities, special education, inclusive education.