Abstract:
Reports have shown that Pupils with Mild Intellectual Disability (PMID) are deficient in reading which account for their difficulty in comprehending text. Previous studies focused largely on personal factors influencing reading performance of PMID with less consideration for the use of therapeutic intervention such as pictorial illustration and music therapies. The study, therefore, was carried out to determine the effects of pictorial illustration and music therapies on reading performance of PMID in Ibadan metropolis, Nigeria. The moderating effects of parents’ socioeconomic status and verbal ability were also examined.
David Kolb’s Experiential learning theory was used, while the pretest-posttest control group quasi experimental design with a 3x3x3 factorial matrix was adopted. Three Local Government Areas (LGAs) were randomly selected from Ibadan metropolis. One special school (HizbulahiaGalib School for Handicapped, Agodi Gate; OluyoleChesire Home School, Ijokodo; and Basic Special School, Sharp Corner, Oke Ado) duly recognised and registered as school for PMID was purposively selected from each LGA. Participants were randomly assigned to Pictorial Illustration (18), Music Therapy (16) and control (17) groups. Treatment lasted eight weeks. Instruments used were Slosson Intelligence Test for Children (r = 0.86), Reading Performance Test (r = 0.79), Parental Socioeconomic Status Scale (r = 0.75) and Verbal Ability Test (r = 0.88). The data were analysed using Analysis of covariance and Scheffe post-hoc at 0.05 level of significance.
The participants’ mean age was 12.13±1.42 years with an Intelligent Quotient range of 50 – 68. Treatment had a significant main effect on reading performance of PMID (F (2; 32) = 12.92; partial ƞ2 = 0.45). Music therapy had the highest post-mean score on reading performance (49.44), followed by pictorial illustration (47.39) and the control (39.19) groups. Verbal ability had a significant main effect on the reading performance of PMID (F (2; 32) = 7.57; partial ƞ2 = 0.32). Participants with high verbal ability had the highest mean score (51.50), followed by those with average verbal ability (48.68), while those with low verbal ability had the lowest (36.64). There was no significant main effect of parents’ socioeconomic status on reading performance of PMID. There was a significant disordinal interaction effect of parents’ socioeconomic status and verbal ability (F (2; 32) = 3.57; partial ƞ2 = 0.31) on the reading performance in favour of PMID of high verbal ability from high parental socioeconomic status. There were no significant interaction effect of treatment and parental socioeconomic status, and treatment and verbal ability on reading performance of PMID, and the three-way interaction effect was not significant on reading performance of PMID.
Pictorial illustration and music therapies were effective in enhancing the reading performance of pupils with mild intellectual disability, although music therapy was more effective. Teachers of pupils with mild intellectual disability should adopt both pictorial illustration and music therapy towards improving reading skills especially when teaching reading comprehension.
