This article analyses the possible common aspects between the Karlstad model
(a method used in Norway to help children develop their language, https://www.iakmnorge.no/untitled) and the Mediated Learning Experience.
Some common points seem to exist, so our next step will be to analyse activities used with the Karlstad model for supporting specific children’s cognitive skills through a mediational approach. Those activities will be shared in this blog (coming soon).
Ref: “Granone, F., Damnotti, S., & Chicco, C. (2021). Integrating a Mediated Learning Experience with Karlstad-model: A Longitudinal Study on a One-Year-Old Child with Down Syndrome. Int’l J. Soc. Sci. Stud., 9, 35.”
Abstract
The study intends to raise a discussion regarding the question of whether a Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) can be considered applicable to children younger than two years with Down Syndrome (DS), to stimulate their cognitive abilities. At the moment, the MLE approach is mainly used for children of at least two years of age.
The longitudinal study has been conducted for six months with a one-year-old child with DS (named T.) between 12 and 18-months of age. Sessions of video recording were conducted each week, videotaping the child and his mother interacting in different object permanence and cause-effect activities.
The article presents a discussion about similar characteristics that can be identified between MLE and the Karlstad model, an established approach used regularly in Norway to enhance the communication abilities of children with DS from the very first months of their lives.
Then, the research presents and discusses how simple activities used to introduce the Karlstad model for enhancing a child’s communication ability can be used to support specific cognitive functions. The study raises interest in the possibility of defining activities suitable for an MLE approach focusing on children younger than two years of age with DS.
The results obtained are not generalizable but provide a starting point for discussion that opens up to possible qualitative and quantitative subsequent studies carried out on a larger population.
You can read the full article at the following link:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352796597_Integrating_a_Mediated_Learning_Experience_with_Karlstad-model_A_Longitudinal_Study_on_a_One-Year-Old_Child_with_Down_Syndrome
The Optimistic Alternative 