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
Browse
4 results
Search Results
Item The Effectiveness of the adapted Box Clever language intervention programme in the development of vocabulary and narrative skills of deaf and hard of hearing children(Taylor & Francis, 2022) Hettiarachchi, S.ABSTRACT: Children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) in Sri Lanka have inadequate access to early amplification and language stimulation. As a result, they are at risk of impoverished language development: spoken language and sign language. Thirty DHH children who use Sri Lankan sign language between the ages of 4;4-7;2 years from three classrooms of a School for the Deaf were included in this study. The culturally-modified Box Clever language-enrichment programme was offered as a whole-class approach twice a week during a 12-week school term through the class teacher. Pre- and post-intervention language measures and statistical analyses of language scores were undertaken of receptive and expressive vocabulary on picture-naming tasks of target vocabulary. In addition, content and syntactic analyses of narrative skills were undertaken using the Elephant Tales Narrative Assessment, an informal assessment created by the researchers, as no local formal standardised assessments exist currently. There were promising results with statistically significant positive gains in receptive and expressive vocabulary skills on target vocabulary items post-intervention by all the participants. Positive qualitative differences were observed in the content within the target narrative assessment post-intervention by all participants with evidence of the emergence of two to three sign combinations by many of the children. KEYWORDS: Deaf, vocabulary, narrative skills, language intervention, sign-language, Sri Lanka, whole-class, LMICItem The Effectiveness of using multi-sensory children’s stories on vocabulary development in young deaf and hard-of-hearing children(Taylor & Francis, 2021) Hettiarachchi, S.; Ranaweera, M.; Disanayake, H.M.L.N.ABSTRACT: Young deaf and hard-of-hearing children enrolling in school in Sri Lanka often display language delay due to limited amplification and limited language stimulation. The scarcity of speech and language therapy support within the educational context at present necessitates a rethink of service-delivery models to reach more children. Multi-sensory stimuli and traditional children’s stories have been used in speech and language therapy to promote vocabulary development in children experiencing language-learning difficulties. Fifteen deaf or hard-of-hearing children from three different educational contexts were offered a three week “Katha malu” multi-sensory children’s story programme through the class teacher. The programme focused on developing receptive and expressive vocabulary of a set of 30 target words. The programme was offered using a combination of Sri Lankan Sign Language and Spoken Sinhala. The participants' receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge on the target words was assessed using a specially devised picture-based vocabulary assessment pre- and post-intervention. The results show positive gains at both group and individual levels on receptive and expressive vocabulary skills. There was a positive effect of familiarity with the story with the overall vocabulary gains more prominent for the older, more traditional story. The findings of this study highlight the possibility of offering access to language stimulation programmes at classroom-level facilitated by the class teacher, under the guidance of a speech and language therapist. KEYWORDS: Early childhood education, language facilitation, engagement of children with adequate or inadequate amplification, multi-sensory, traditional storiesItem The Effectiveness of a multisensory traditional storytelling programme on target vocabulary development in children with disabilities accessing English as a second language: A preliminary study(SAGE Publications, 2022) Hettiarachchi, S.; Walisundara, D.C.; Ranaweera, M.ABSTRACT: The current deliberations on increasing access to English and the democratization of English in post-war Sri Lanka must extend to students with disabilities. Research evidence from speech and language therapy promotes the use of multi-sensory stimuli to advance the development of communication and language skills in children with intellectual disabilities. In this preliminary study, 3 local children's stories, together with relevant story-making activities, were offered to 7 children with intellectual disabilities in one special school across 12 lessons. Vocabulary measures of word naming of target vocabulary were undertaken pre- and post-intervention using picture-based tasks presented via PowerPoint. A positive difference was found post-intervention on the target vocabulary naming test. The findings of this small preliminary study should be interpreted with caution. However, the findings are suggestive of the potential benefit of using culturally relevant familiar local traditional stories with a range of multi-sensory stimuli and storytelling activities to aid learning of new vocabulary in children with disabilities accessing English as an additional language. Further research using a large sample together with a control group will be required to substantiate the positive trend of vocabulary gains observed within this preliminary study. KEYWORDS: English; intellectual disability; multisensory; stories; traditional.Item Story Boxes: using a multisensory story approach to develop vocabulary in children experiencing language-learning difficulties(Infonomics Society, UK, 2013) Hettiarachchi, S.; Ranaweera, M.One challenge faced by special education teachers in Sri Lanka is in the implementation of whole-class vocabulary enrichment activities. There has been a growing interest in using multisensory, interactive storytelling as a means of encouraging vocabulary development. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of integrating local stories into multi-sensory story-telling and story-making activities as part of a whole-class speech and language therapy programme to assist the teaching and learning of target vocabulary. Two local children’s stories together with relevant story-telling and story-making activities were introduced to 30 children with language learning difficulties accessing special education in the south of the country. The children received weekly storytelling sessions for 3 months via trained teaching staff. Receptive and expressive vocabulary measures were undertaken before and after the introduction of the approach together with teacher and parent comments. There was a positive difference in the target receptive and expressive vocabulary of each student following the block of therapy using the Story boxes multi-sensory storytelling/story-making approach. Additional positive changes were noticed in the children’s attention and listening skills and in their motivation to attend to activities during ‘story time’. The use of local, traditional stories incorporating a multi-sensory story telling and story-making framework was found to aid the receptive and expressive vocabulary skills of children with language-learning difficulties.