As language difficulties exist in all handicapped children, the development of educational programs for language remediation is earnestly demanded. In our country, however, any concrete remedial and educational method for language development has not ...
As language difficulties exist in all handicapped children, the development of educational programs for language remediation is earnestly demanded. In our country, however, any concrete remedial and educational method for language development has not been systematized, as to what and how to develop, guide, and remedy the matters of practical educational methods and contents.
Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to develop a program through verbo-tonal method as the most natural and effective method for phonation and speech production at the initial language acquisition stage of the handicapped children.
For this purpose, three gearing-impaired children, four mentally retarded children, and five autistic children were selected. Chronological age of these subjects ranged from three years and eight months to five years and six months. The period of experiment of the present study was one year. In analyzing the data, pre-and post-test have been administered with non-verbal test, CLAC-Ⅱ, language comprehension and expression test. The case study observation method has been used to describe the results and behavioral change of the subjects.
The concrete contents of training program for each area of handicap developed by verbo-tonal method are as follows:
1. Preparatory training program (establishment of relationship, attention, imitation of motion).
2. Basic body movement for phonation (vowel. Consonant).
3. Training program of phonation and speech production for hearing impaired children.
4. Training program of phonation and speech production for mentally retarded children.
5. Training program of phonation for autistic children.
The findings obtained from the present study are summarized as follows:
1. Training program for phonation and speech production by verbo-tonal method has markedly developed the ability of phonation and speech production in hearing impaired children.
2. Training program for phonation and speech production by verbo-tonal method ahs been found effective for the ability of phonation and speech production I mentally retarded children.
3. Training program for phonation by verbo-tonal method has been found effective for stimulating the development of phonation and speech production in autistic children.
In conclusion, the verbo-tonal method has been found to facilitate the phonation and speech production of the children of three categories. Therefore, the results of the present study that have not only proved the marked effectiveness to hearing impaired children but also showed the possibility of application to the phonation and speech production in both mentally retarded children and autistic children suggest that this verbo-tonal method can be a natural and effective remedial/educational method for many handicapped children with language difficulties.