Intellectual disability and the use of ICT

Abstract

What pedagogical strategies can be used in the classroom to demonstrate and strengthen the integration of ICTs in the teaching-learning process for students with intellectual disabilities, through the creation and application of devices that promote the development of specific competences in special education and inclusion classrooms?

By making a pedagogical diagnosis in different primaries educational institutions in Colombia (Col) and Dominican Republic (DR), guided by teachers working with students with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities in different modalities: inclusion, special education and specific classrooms. In the pedagogical practice it is observed that the rhythms of learning and cognitive development of the population addressed require support and reasonable adjustments; this situation summons us to propose a work that helps to develop teaching-learning strategies, in order to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and teaching practices.

The group of teachers of the inclusion niche of the Innovation and Exchange of Pedagogical Experiences Network (RIIEP) presents an innovational proposal based on the diagnosis, design, application of devices and qualitative observation of learning process. Motivated by the interest to innovate in this area through the project: Intellectual disability and the use of ICT, with the purpose of integrating educational mediations and technology in the curricular process through the production and application of learning devices that promote the development of specific competences in special education and inclusion classrooms. The design of learning devices, based on art, communication and the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), are being applied in a pilot sample in the District Educational Institution (IED). Entre Nubes Sur Oriental, with a projection of application in two (IED) of Col and three specifics classrooms for educational inclusion (AEIE) in DR.

The creation of transdisciplinary devices represents the macro result of the project. It is evident that a student who has difficulty in oral and written communication, demonstrates learning through various forms of expression and, being able to work with the support provided by the instrument, the student access knowledge on equal terms.