Journal/Magazine Articles
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/13
This collection contains original research articles, review articles and case reports published in local and international peer reviewed journals by the staff members of the Faculty of Medicine
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Item Including All? perceptions of mainstream teachers on inclusive education in the Western Province of Sri Lanka(International Journal of Special Education, 2018) Hettiarachchi, S.; Ranaweera, M.; Walisundara, D.; Daston-Attanayake, L.; Das, A. K.This study aimed to uncover perceptions of 'inclusive education' using semi-structured interviews with 15 mainstream teachers from the Western Province in Sri Lanka. Thematic coding of the interview data was undertaken using the key principles of Framework Analysis. The main themes that emerged were incongruous conceptual understandings of 'inclusive education' and 'integration', discrepancies in the use of terminology, fear of incompetence, concerns regarding limited training facilities, the lack of incentives offered to work within special education settings, the pressure of working towards school examination success and the lack of policy awareness. These findings will be discussed with regard to its implications for policy and practice. The results underpin the need to consider local teacher perceptions and to address these concerns within pre-service and in-service training in order to support the establishment of education reforms of equal access for all, which are relevant and sensitive to cultural needs and considerate of local realities.Item The Effectiveness of colourful semantics on narrative skills in children with intellectual disabilities in Sri Lanka(SAGE Publications, 2016) Hettiarachchi, S.BACKGROUND: Children diagnosed with intellectual difficulties experience difficulties with narrative skills, due to limited syntactic knowledge. The Colourful Semantics approach with thematic roles and a colour coding system may encourage syntactic development in children experiencingintellectual disabilities. AIM: To evaluate the effectiveness of using the Colourful Semantics approach to develop narrative skills in Sri Lankan Tamil-speaking childrendiagnosed with intellectual difficulties. METHODS: Thirty Sri Lankan Tamil-speaking children identified with intellectual difficulties were included. The Colourful Semantics approach was offered twice a week for 6 weeks, facilitated by the class teachers. Pre- and post-intervention narrative skill assessments were undertaken and analysed for content and syntactic structures. RESULTS: The results indicate positive changes post-intervention on the qualitative and quantitative narrative skills measures undertaken on content and syntactic structures. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The Colourful Semantics approach is an effective therapy approach to support development of narrativeskills in children with intellectual difficulties.Item Perceptions of 'inclusion' and perceived preparedness among school teachers in Sri Lanka(Elsevier, 2014) Hettiarachchi, S.; Das, A.This study examined the preparedness of regular and special education teachers in Sri Lanka to teach students with disabilities in an inclusive educational setting. It also explored their perceptions of the term ‘inclusion’ and its applicability to the Sri Lankan context. A total of 75 teachers were surveyed using a two-part questionnaire. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight teachers. The interview data was analyzed using Framework Analysis and the quantitative survey data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Special education teachers indicated higher perceived competence in working with students with special needs compared to general education teachers. Implications for teacher preparation via pre-service and in-service training are discussed.Item ‘Colourful Semantics’ as a whole-class approach with Sri Lankan Tamil speaking children experiencing language-learning difficulties(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2013) Hettiarachchi, S.The Colourful Semantics approach (Bryan, 1997) has been used effectively as a whole-class approach to support vocabulary and syntactic development in children. Using a colour-coding system and thematic roles, it helps children learn to use and respond to key ‘wh’ questions. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Colourful Semantics approach to develop target vocabulary and the use of Subject- Object-Verb (SOV) structures in 30 Sri Lankan-Tamil speaking children experiencing languagelearning difficulties. The Colourful Semantics approach was introduced as a whole-class approach via the teacher and incorporated into daily literacy activities for 6 weeks. Preand post-intervention assessments were undertaken on five receptive and expressive language and literacy measures of vocabulary and syntax. There were positive changes in all the vocabulary and syntactic measures undertaken at an individual and group level. The post-therapy language scores on all five measures were highly significant at a p< 0.05 level. It is recommended that the Colourful Semantics approach be used as a whole-class intervention approach, facilitated by the teacher under the supervision of a speech and language therapist in deprived and under-resourced areas.