Contribution of a post-secondary academic enrichment program on cognitive abilities of adults with severe intellectual disability using an e-book

IF 2.9 2区医学 Q1 EDUCATION, SPECIAL

Research in Developmental Disabilities Pub Date : 2025-01-24 DOI:10.1016/j.ridd.2025.104921

Hefziba Lifshitz , Shira Posner , Shlomit Shnitzer-Meirovich

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

We investigated the impact of participation in post-secondary university education (PSE) on the academic knowledge of adult students with severe intellectual disability and extensive support needs (SIDESN) vs. a similar group of controls who did not participate in PSE. We also examined whether the PSE would result in a "near transfer” to basic crystallized (facts and information) and fluid (problems involving executive functions and working memory) cognitive abilities, the contribution of background characteristics and crystallized and fluid abilities to their academic knowledge, semantic fluency and temporal relations.

Method

Nine adults with SIDESN (aged 27–58) participated in an Introduction to Sociology course using an Ecological-mediational Strategies Model that included use of an e-book while 10 other adults served as the control group. An academic knowledge test according to Bloom’s taxonomy as well as crystallized and fluid cognitive tests were administered at Time 1 (pre-course) and Time 2 (post-course).

Findings

MANOVAs indicated improvement in academic knowledge and a "near transfer" to crystallized and fluid tests in the PSE group at Time 2, versus stability or decline in the controls. Chronological age and the PSE program contributed to the EPV of the improvement in the knowledge test, semantic fluency and temporal relations.

Conclusions

Despite the small sample size, our findings indicated that academic PSE programs using technology hold potential for improving academic knowledge and cognitive abilities of crystalized and fluid types in adults with SIDESN, supporting the Compensation Age Theory, Enrichment Theory, and the Ecological-mediational Strategies Model that were developed for acquiring academic material for this special group.

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对使用电子书的严重智力残疾成人认知能力的中学后学术充实计划的贡献。

我们调查了参加中学后大学教育（PSE）对有严重智力残疾和广泛支持需求（SIDESN）的成年学生的学术知识的影响，与未参加PSE的类似对照组相比。我们还研究了PSE是否会导致基本的结晶（事实和信息）和流动（涉及执行功能和工作记忆的问题）认知能力的“接近转移”，背景特征和结晶和流动能力对他们的学术知识、语义流畅性和时间关系的贡献。方法：9名患有SIDESN的成年人（27-58岁）参加了包括电子书在内的生态中介策略模型社会学导论课程，另外10名成年人作为对照组。在时间1（课前）和时间2（课后）分别进行Bloom分类的学术知识测试以及结晶和流体认知测试。结果：MANOVAs表明，在时间2时，PSE组在学术知识和“接近转移”到结晶和流体测试方面有所改善，而对照组则保持稳定或下降。实足年龄和PSE程序对知识测试、语义流畅性和时间关系的EPV改善有促进作用。结论：尽管样本量小，但我们的研究结果表明，使用技术的学术PSE计划具有提高SIDESN成人晶体型和流体型学术知识和认知能力的潜力，支持补偿年龄理论、丰富理论和生态-中介策略模型，这些模型是为这一特殊群体获取学术材料而开发的。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Research in Developmental Disabilities Multiple-

CiteScore

5.50

自引率

6.50%

发文量

178

期刊介绍： Research In Developmental Disabilities is aimed at publishing original research of an interdisciplinary nature that has a direct bearing on the remediation of problems associated with developmental disabilities. Manuscripts will be solicited throughout the world. Articles will be primarily empirical studies, although an occasional position paper or review will be accepted. The aim of the journal will be to publish articles on all aspects of research with the developmentally disabled, with any methodologically sound approach being acceptable.