The Effects of a Psycholinguistic Approach to Multisensory Instruction on Psycholinguistic Abilities of Children with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

Purpose. Learning Disability (LD) is an important field in which the differences between individuals are clear, and the differences within the individual are the most, so children with LD form a heterogeneous society. The aim was to investigate the effects of a psycholinguistic approach to multisensory instruction on psycholinguistic abilities of children with learning disabilities. Methods. This study seeks to provide an answer to the question on what is the effects of a psycholinguistic approach to multisensory instruction on psycholinguistic abilities of children with learning disabilities. A sample of 40 students in grade 3 with LD in three primary schools in Buraydah – Qassim, KSA was invited to be participants in the study. Criteria of inclusion were as follows: (1) demonstrating low achievement scores according to teacher’s reference (i.e., at least 1.5 [SD] below their same age people, though their normal levels of intellectual functioning, (2) the absence of any neurological or motor disorders, (3) Low score on Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities – Third Edition. The research used the quasi-experimental approach due to its suitability to the nature of the research, which relies on the experimental design based on two groups, one experimental and the other control, and by using the pre- and post testing of the two groups. Results. Results indicated increased psycholinguistic abilities of children with LD. This indicates the effectiveness of the psycholinguistic approach to multisensory instruction in improving psycholinguistic abilities of children with LD. Conclusions. The psycholinguistic approach to multisensory instruction is one of the training methods that are carried out by employing several sensory channels in the process of training the reading skill, and this method is based on training the child to link the sound and the written symbol by hearing the sound and seeing the symbol or symbols at the same time touching or tracing this symbol and noticing the shape it takes In writing, and in these methods, the child is asked to draw, copy and write the letter and at the same time pronounce the sound indicating it, and thus not relying only on the visual image or the auditory memory alone in learning to read. The results from this study contribute to the growing literature on the effect of the psycholinguistic approach to multisensory instruction in improving psycholinguistic abilities of children with learning disabilities. The present study lends empirical support to the notion that psycholinguistic abilities of children with learning disabilities can be improved through the psycholinguistic approach to multisensory instruction.