| Abstract [eng] |
The academic issue in the research is specified in the following problem questions: What communication development results can be achieved by the child learning according to an individual education plan, based on the evaluations? The purpose of the research is to reveal the peculiarities of evaluating and developing communication skills of children with diverse developmental disorders. The theoretical part analyses the academic concept of communication, as well as the peculiarities of evaluating and developing communication skills of children with diverse development disorders. The research was based on the method of case analysis, combining it with the analysis of documents acquired from the Early Rehabilitation Service and Educational Psychological Service, as well as the VB-MAPP assessment protocols, also the content analysis of the interview data. The purpose of this is to analyse the peculiarities of evaluating and developing the communication skills of children with diverse development disorders. 2 pre-school age children with diverse developmental disorders were chosen for case analysis, 3 educators of educational institutions, which these children attend, 2 speech therapists working with children took part in the research. The research has shown that the special needs to develop communication skills of the selected children are caused by limited understanding of language, expressive language disorder, impaired non-verbal communication, as well as impaired social communication and social expression abilities. The results of the additional assessment showed that after intensive training both children selected for the case study have made considerable progress. The greatest progress can be observed in verbal contact and communication skills: asking, commenting and understanding language. In addition to that, non-verbal communication. However, the slowest progress of both children can be observed in the ability to keep an eye contact, intraverbal skills and showing interest in their peers. This allows to assume that children find it easier to acquire certain skills than generalise them. The interview data showed that the specialists working with the children selected for the case analysis considered learning barriers: they tried to provide motivating tasks, applied the method of “discounting” in order to reduce problem behaviour and applied training for developing the ability to keep focus. Nevertheless, the needs for developing special communication skills were addressed only partially. A lot of attention was focused on developing verbal contact and communication skills, as well as teaching non-verbal imitation. However, it remains unclear how the children were encouraged to show interest in their peers and taught to join into joint activities. The analysis of the data acquired during the interviews revealed the following components that are crucial for creating a favourable learning environment for the children: a) creating a relationship with the child, defined by scientists as one of the motivating factors; b) focusing a lot of attention for adapting the physical environment: structuring the surroundings, using visual measures that help to understand the environment and teach the child not only to understand, but also to engage in communication. The data of the interview content analysis shows that the specialists are seeking to create a motivating learning process, i.e. look for activities that would be interesting to the child. All informants participating in the case analysis say that the individualisation of the child with diverse development disorders relates to structured training and using visual measures. |
