Pragmatic abilities of pupils with mild intellectual disabilities

This master thesis examines characteristics of pragmatic abilities of pupils with mild intellectual disabilities. The research analyses the characteristics of vocabulary, grammatical and substantive structures of pupils with mild intellectual disabilities in storytelling, and concludes the characteristics of storytelling according to gender and age. Uncoincidental, scheduled pattern has been used in data collection of 60 pupils with mild intellectual disabilities, aging from 7 to 9 years. Pragmatic abilities of pupils were evaluated with the Frog king Storytelling test. The data analysis revealed great statistical differences in vocabulary, grammatical story structure and substantive structure of the story between the younger and the older children groups with mild intellectual disabilities. The research results show greater progress in area of pragmatic abilities (particularly in the area of vocabulary and a slightly lesser progress in areas of grammatical and substantive structure) of pupils with mild intellectual disabilities during their first years of education. Comparison of abilities among pupils with mild intellectual disabilities and those of the same age with typical development has showed lesser deviation in the group of younger children with mild intellectual disabilities compared to same aged children with typical development of vocabulary, grammatical and substantive story structure, and greater deviation in the group of older children with mild intellectual disabilities, compared to children of the same age with typical development. No gender differences have been determined when comparing achievements of children with mild intellectual disabilities in mental development according to vocabulary, grammatical and substantive story structure. The research results reveal pragmatic abilities of pupils with mild intellectual disabilities and can be means to research for speech therapists, teachers, special education teachers and counselors when considering profiles of individuals that are basis for individualized program planning. By implementing such program, the counselors can encourage development of pragmatic abilities of pupils, thus affecting their academic success, communication competency and social skills