Developing an educational game teaching Maltese to children with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

Educational advancements have been acknowledged since the initiation of inclusive education in Malta, yet several concerns and hardships for students with disabilities remain. Reasoning and interpretation of information is challenging for intellectually disabled children thus they require direct teaching and assistance. Language learning is a struggle since they have deficiencies in communication and language abilities related to vocabulary, sentence building, and understanding complex instructions, leading to lack of proficiency and self-esteem in conversing and public speaking. With the growth in technologies for impaired individuals, it is imperative that these are adapted for children with disabilities, and any applications utilised by such users must be designed accordingly, taking into consideration specific disabilities and requirements. Since children with intellectual disabilities use mobile technology daily, this research project involves supplying a digital educational game teaching Maltese to intellectually disabled children, which may be used within a classroom environment or at home. It comprises of evaluating how it facilitates the education of the language among children with various intellectual disabilities, within a limited time span. Research on game-based learning, traditional educational theories and learning strategies has been carried out to ensure that these are applied effectively. Techniques for how these are implemented, and optimal design considerations, are also explored by holding workshops with Learning Support Educators experienced with educating children with intellectual disabilities. A core challenge in developing such an application is the ability to engage and motivate players to utilise and enjoy the application whilst learning the language. The solution includes audio and visual aspects to immerse its users. The text-to-speech functionality and sounds played depending on users’ answers provide an enhanced learning experience. Moreover, drag-and-drop components and rewards motivate students, stimulating them to learn further. Another challenge is the various learning abilities and paces that children with intellectual disabilities have, which affects the overall perception towards the game. If pupils are tasked with challenging activities beyond their capabilities, they often become disengaged and lose interest. The solution proposed enables educators to add levels and remove pre-existing ones to ascertain that the game provides activities within the ability of the user. An Iterative Software Development Life Cycle approach was implemented, in which wireframes were designed for requirements elicitation, and several prototypes were developed and amended following educators’ feedback. The LSEs made use of the system themselves and analysed their pupils playing the games, observing their reactions and noting any progress made. A usability study and educator evaluation then followed, which concluded that the application was indeed successful in achieving its objective of facilitating teaching and engaging pupils to learn Maltese, whilst ensuring that the system is usable and effective.