Educational potential of visual novels in remedial and developmental work

Introduction. The relevance of the presented problems is due to the need to find modern resources for teaching children with disabilities. The work reveals the features of visual novels use for teaching this category of children and adolescents. This technology is new for the education system and of considerable interest to students due to the fact that it is a genre of computer games. The aim of the study was to develop and test a visual novel for teaching children with disabilities social and household skills using as a base scientific research in psychology and design. Materials and methods. The possibilities of using visual novels in remedial and developmental work are considered, taking into account key parameters, such as simplifying complex content or presenting it in a form that facilitates perception; receiving feedback and player involvement; character selection and design. The novels with an educational orientation are analyzed; as well as visual novels dedicated to persons with disabilities. The description of the author’s visual novel created using Ren’Py visual novel engine and aimed at the formation of social and household skills in children is given, the features of its application in working with students with Intellectual Disabilities (mental retardation) are analyzed. 30 adults including teachers and parents, as well as seven students took part in the work at the stages of pre- and post-project analysis. Results. It is established that the use of a visual novel makes the educational process more interesting for high school students with intellectual disabilities, encourages them to read and comprehend the proposed topic. The possibility of correcting a choice error allows students to think more deeply about the content of the text and allows them to correct misconceptions. The game format does not bother children, so they can refer to the content of the novel repeatedly. Test tasks contribute to the consolidation of the material. Conclusion. Thus, visual novels have a great remedial and educational potential, can be used in the study of various topics within a large number of subjects. The simplicity of creation allows to design such novels with the involvement of teachers and students of educational organizations.