Wh - Question answering in children with intellectual disability.

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Developmental Psychology
• Special Education

Background:

• Students with intellectual disability (ID) often face challenges in language comprehension and question answering.
• Wh- questions vary in complexity, with concrete questions (who, what, where) generally being less demanding than abstract ones (when, why, how).
• The presence of visual aids, such as pictures, may influence question-answering performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the question-answering abilities of students with intellectual disability (ID) using different wh- question words.
• To compare performance on wh- questions presented with and without visual (picture) support.
• To differentiate between the ability to answer concrete versus abstract wh- questions.

Main Methods:

• A group of 39 students with intellectual disability (ID) participated in the study.
• Participants were asked wh- questions in two referential conditions: with and without a picture.
• Questions were categorized as concrete (who, what, where) or abstract (when, why, how).

Main Results:

• The most frequently answered question words, in order, were: what, who, where, how, why, when.
• No significant difference was found in the probability of answering questions correctly between referential conditions (with vs. without pictures).
• Participants correctly answered 89% of concrete questions and 56% of abstract questions, a statistically significant difference.

Conclusions:

• The findings highlight a significant difference in the ability to answer concrete versus abstract wh- questions for students with ID.
• Visual aids did not significantly impact overall question-answering accuracy across referential conditions.
• Further investigation is crucial to develop effective strategies for supporting students with ID in answering diverse wh- questions.