Using songs to teach students with intellectual disabilities to tell time

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of using songs to teach students with intellectual disabilities to tell time. It followed a multiple-probe, across-subject design with a probe phase, which is a single-subject research design. The participants were three 17–19-year-old female students with mild intellectual disabilities who could not read clocks. They were taught to read analog clocks at full, half, and quarter past hours. Graphical analysis was used to analyze the data on the effectiveness of teaching through songs. At the end of the study, it was evaluated whether the students could read clocks without singing. Social validity data were collected from the students and their teachers. The findings show that all three students could learn to read clocks through songs and could tell the time correctly without songs. In the social validity data, the students stated that they were able to learn to tell time easily without getting bored and they wanted other lessons to also be taught through songs. The teachers stated that the students participated in the lesson more willingly than usual and that they enjoyed learning to tell time.

Keywords: Intellectual disabilities, mathematical skills, telling time, teaching through song