Wayfinding and spatial perception among adolescents with mild intellectual disability.
Map or voice, both teach teens with mild ID the same safe route.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team worked with teens who have mild intellectual disability. They wanted to see if teaching with paper maps or Google voice directions worked better for learning to walk a new route.
Half the class got map lessons. The other half got phone voice prompts. After lessons, each teen walked the route alone while staff scored errors and time.
What they found
Both groups made fewer wrong turns after training. Map kids and voice kids ended up alike in speed and mistakes.
No method beat the other. Either tool gave the same boost in independence.
How this fits with other research
Amore et al. (2011) also taught tech to students with developmental disabilities. They used video clips on the same iPod Touch the kids later used. Both studies show direct instruction plus the real device works.
Izadi-Najafabadi et al. (2019) reviewed dozens of computer lessons for students with ID. Their paper warned that most tech studies lack clear comparisons. The new wayfinding study fills that gap by testing map against app head-to-head.
Schertz et al. (2018) taught reading with a scripted text curriculum in the same type of classroom. Like the wayfinding study, they used step-by-step direct instruction and saw strong gains. Together they show the method works for very different skills.
Why it matters
You can pick either paper maps or voice navigation when teaching travel skills. Both give equal payoff, so use the tool your student likes or the one you have on hand. Start with short routes, give clear prompts, then fade help. Teens with mild ID can learn to walk to work sites, cafés, or bus stops after just a few lessons.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The study's aim was to examine whether spatial orientation can be improved in students with cognitive disabilities. METHOD: Participants were 55 boys and girls with attention deficit and mild cognitive impairment from a special education school. The procedure included an intervention for two experimental groups that studied wayfinding and orientation in the environment: group #1 learned to use a map while navigating, and group #2 learned to use a Google navigation app with voice instructions. Two pre-post tests were applied: (1) Mental folding test for children (MFTC) and (2) field test with map. RESULTS: Both groups improved their ability in navigation and wayfinding. No advantage for one learning method over the other was demonstrated, except for shortened navigation time in the group navigating with a map, and a slight though not significant tendency of improvement in the MFTC task in the group learning navigation using a voice app. CONCLUSION: It is worth noting that the study did not examine the students' own preferences for the way of learning, which may have implications for the degree of possible improvement. Also, a longer period of the learning process might yield a clearer understanding concerning the differences between the two teaching methods that were examined.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2022 · doi:10.1111/jir.12934