Um software educativo para a promoção das competências cognitivas e comunicativ...

• Author(s): Constantino, Jorge ; Condeço, Teresa ; Cotrim, Luisa
• Date: 2002
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.15/666
• Origin: Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico de Santarém
• Subject(s): Educational software; Down’s Syndrome; Jogos da Mimocas
• Document Type: Part of book or chapter of book
• Language: Portuguese

Description

With the financial support of the Portuguese Department for Rehabilitation of Disabled People, the Down’s Syndrome Portuguese Association together with the Higher School for Management of Santarém, have developed na educational software which is a well designed, interactive educational game providing hours of entertainment while enabling youngsters to play-andlearn. This package is aimed at children from 18 months onwards who have learning and communication disabilities. “Os Jogos da Mimocas” were purposefully conceived to be used with children with special needs, especially children with Down syndrome, and it: a) Promotes comprehensive and expressive language development, verbal short-term memory as well as auditory and visual discrimination; b) Develops speech intelligibility - print can be used from as early as two years of age to support language learning; c) Accelerates mastery of grammar and sentence building by the interactive use of visual material whilst enhancing visual and spatial processing based activities; d) Teaches Down’s syndrome youngsters how to read by means of a visual learning process. This program is based on the one used at the Sarah Duffen Centre, in Portsmouth, and promoted by Drª Sue Buckley (University of Portsmouth). This software can be used to: promote semantic comprehension, by increased comprehensive and expressive vocabulary and categorizations; promote reading ability, trough visual memorization of words; promote spatial awareness and sexual identification; promote the development of auditory discrimination and visual memory trough visual memorization and discrimination of words; promote sequential thinking and accelerate mastery of lexicon. The Portuguese Education Ministry has awarded “Os Jogos da Mimocas” a prize for one of the best educational software of the year.