Let’s give the child a chance

The project “Language Therapy of the Mind of Students with Mild Intellectual Disabilities” is organized by the Foundation “Centre for Plurilingualism and Intercultural Communication – PLURIKO” in special primary schools in cooperation with and under the supervision of scientists and practitioners from scientific and research institutions  from Bydgoszcz, Olsztyn, Poznań and Warsaw.

A single project for a group of students lasts 2 years, applies only to students in the 4th grade, and then to the 5th grade with mild intellectual disability – these are students who in Poland have to learn compulsory one foreign language. The project consists of 2 interrelated parts: educational and scientific research. Two groups of students participate in the project: an experimental group (Esperanto language learners) and control group (others).

Educational part – experimental group – why is it worth to participate?

In the educational part, the pupils learn a simple foreign language, which is Esperanto during a 2-years period in 2 full lessons (45 minutes each) weekly, classes are conducted by a foreign language teacher (e.g. English, French) in the form of additional classes according to a specially developed and proven international course for children. In addition, during the summer holidays students participate in a camp with children learning Esperanto from other countries or with a foreign teacher.

It is known that, apart from the state of health, the greatest barrier to the cognitive and social functioning of these pupils as adults is the level of development of their mind, and in particular the density of neural connections in the brain. Each, even a small increase in this level is extremely beneficial for them and makes it easier to function later. In general, it has been found that learning foreign languages has a very positive effect on the development of the brain in children, adolescents and people of retirement age. Unfortunately, in the case of people with intellectual disabilities, learning  commonly taught foreign languages (e.g. English, French) in the mode of schooling does not give satisfying results. The reason for this is the complexity of these languages, which significantly inhibits their acquisition and causes that the progress in learning and the development of neural connections in the brain as a result of learning such a foreign language is very often negligible.

For this reason, the skills of intellectually disabled children in using a foreign language (such as English, French) at the end of their school education are low. Obviously the usefulness of learning it is in their life rather small, illusory, and the effort put in can be frustrating and discouraging.  Therefore it is worth looking for opportunities to improve the child’s mental efficiencyin terms of general language and communicative competences (also in relation to the mother tongue/school language) in a different way – such a solution is, for example, learning a simple but efficient communicative language Esperanto .

Experiments and studies conducted in various countries show that learning Esperanto improves students’ skills in their mother tongue and the compulsory foreign language by about 20-25%.A particularly beneficial effect of learning Esperanto has been observed in children with reduced intellectual abilities. It is therefore reasonable to assume that through better brain development learning Esperanto will contribute not only to the development of their competences and language skills, but also to the improvement of social communication, cognitive functions and the level of general intelligence.

In this view learning Esperanto has, above all, a therapeutic purpose and character – the language itself being a tool in this therapy. The ability to use at least one foreign language in practice even on low level, acquired in the course of learning, is an additional effect. This type of mind therapy gives effects in several dimensions:

1. development of communication and social skills – improving the use of the mother tongue and the language of school education (if different, e.g. in immigrant children) and improving the process of learning a compulsory foreign language,
2. development of cognitive functions – better cognition and understanding of the surrounding world, and thus improvement of school learning outcomes,
3. psychological aspects – increasing the student’s self-esteem, courage in communicating with others, satisfaction with learning outcomes.

Since  learning Esperanto is treated as a therapy in the project, in  order to achieve the expected results, it requires diligence, regularity, perseverance, commitment and some effort on the part of the student, and on the part of the parents/guardians to motivate the child to actively participate in the learning process, because they are responsible for the child’s participation in such an undertaking – a child of this age and with such a disability may not understand the meaning and purpose of this teaching. As in the case of other therapies (about which the child does not decide) and learning other subjects.

Scientific and research part (analysis of effects) – aim, scope, course of activities

Scientific and research activities within the project consist in making various measurements. They are uniform for students of the experimental and control groups. In the experimental group, additional is only an assessment of the level of knowledge of Esperanto at the end and a comparison with the level of mastery of the compulsory foreign language.

The first group of measurements concerns the assessment of the development of pupils’ language and communication skills –  it is made on the basis of:

1. telling in the language of schooling and the foreign one what the student sees in the picture with a scene from home life – an individual meeting with the student – lasts about 15-20 minutes;
2. answers in the language of schooling to simple questions that do not require the student’s preparation regarding general language abilities (predispositions) – a group meeting with students during one lesson – lasts about 35-40 minutes;
3. completing the student’s linguistic behavior observation sheet by the teacher in any of the languages concerned – takes about 15-20 minutes.

All materials are specially adapted to the abilities of 4th grade students with a mild intellectual disability.

The second group of measurements concerns the assessment of the development of cognitive functions, social behavior and brain development of the student ,with which language learning is variously linked. The question is how and to what extent?.

Assessments are carried out by specialists on the basis of standard diagnostic tools used in Psychological and Pedagogical Counseling Centres, for example, in examinations to issue a certificate on the need for special education:

4. ABAS-3 – a tool used to assess adaptive behavior, i.e. the development of the pupil’s cognitive and social functions – requires filling in the forms separately by the parent/guardian and by the tutor without involving the pupil – it takes about 20-30 minutes;
5. IDS-2 – a tool used to assess the emotional and social sphere – individually with the pupil – it takes about 20 minutes;
6. intelligence test SB5 (Stanford-Binet 5) – individual for the pupil – for this purpose, the organizer asks the appropriate Psychological and Pedagogical Counseling Center to use this test to examine pupils for the 2nd stage of school education (at the end of the 3rd grade) as part of the compulsory procedure – in the absence of such a test for the pupiul, it is performed as part of the project;
7. measurement of selected parameters of brain development by magnetic resonance imaging – it is used to measure changes in the thickness of the cerebral cortex and the density of neural connections in the areas of speech and language – individually with the pupil – takes about 20-30 minutes.

The complement  in the experimental group is:

8. examination of expectations and assessment of the importance of the project from the parents’ perspective – a focus group study involving parents/guardians of pupils learning Esperanto

As part of the project, parents/guardians are asked to complete the Pupil Profile questionnaire to determine the individual factors that may affect the development of the pupil’s competences and skills in the scope of the project. Also to agree to the school providing the researchers with the mandatory Individual Educational and Therapeutic Program sheet and the Pupil’s Functioning Level Assessment Sheet.

The above-mentioned activities are performed at the beginning of the 4th grade, and then repeated after 2 years on the same material, so that it is possible to compare what progress thge student has made and what changes have occurred.

In the experimental group, there is also an assignment for Esperanto to complete task 1 (telling a picture) and task 3 (observing linguistic behaviour) after the first and second year of teaching. In addition, after 2 years of teaching, a simple test of language skills in Esperanto and in a foreign language based on the same tasks for the student.

In this respect, the project is unique on a global scale, as science does not have such knowledge.

The control group – why is it worth to participate?

Students in the control group do not participate in Esperanto lessons. Their development, however, is subject to the same assessment and measurement  at the beginning and at the end of the 2-year period in the areas for which parent/guardian consent is granted – as in the case of students in the experimental group.

The creation of a control group is necessary from a research point of view: it allows us to check the effects of the experiment with teaching Esperanto to students with a mild intellectual disability in relation to students who do not undertake such learning.

In practice, only some students and parents of the 4th grade decide to learn Esperanto as an additional subject. However, nothing prevents other students from participating in the project as part of the control group. This is not an additional burden for them.

The benefits of enrolling a child in this group are multiple – primarily for parents/guardians, teachers and educators as they allow them to capture the student’s development potentials, strengths and weaknesses, and use this knowledge in the process of education and upbringing.

Terms and conditions

The participation of the child and the parent/guardian in the project is completely voluntary and free of charge. By signing the informed consent form, the parent/legal guardian consents to the child’s participation. You can cancel your participation at any time, in whole or in to a certain extent, without giving any reason and without any negative consequences.

​Benefits and disadvantages of participating in research

The benefits of participating in the project have been presented in more detail above.

In addition, in the case of students in both groups, parents/guardians receive information collected during the project about their child’s development in the project areas, including the strengths and weaknesses from the educational and upbringing perspective. Whether or not this information is passed on to teachers, special educators and psychologists is at the discretion of the parent/guardian. The Foundation does not provide such information about individual students to the school management – only aggregate information about the results of the research.

There are no significant inconveniences associated with testing for children and their parents/guardians.

For students from the experimental group, it is planned to co-finance trips for a 7-10 day stay with their peers learning Esperanto abroad or for a stay with a foreigner teaching Esperanto, and in the case of students from the control group, after the end of the project, co-financing of participation in any camp in the amount depending on the scope of the measurements carried out.

Data protection

The data obtained are subject to the rules of professional secrecy, including personal data of particular importannce (Article 9 of the GDPR) regarding the disability of the student-participant in the project. All members of the research team are bound by confidentiality. The general results of the research may be the subject of publication, but the identity of persons involved in the project will remain proprietary and will not be made public.

December 2022

​Elaboration:

        dr Jerzy Leyk, Fundacja „Ośrodek Plurlingwizmu i Komunikacji Międzykulturowej – PLURIKO”

Consultations and cooperation:

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Institute of Ethnolinguistics

        prof. UAM dr hab. Ilona Koutny, Interlinguistic Studies

Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Faculty of Psychology

        prof. UKW, dr Ludmiła Zając-Lamparska, Department of Human Development Psychology

        dr Małgorzata Wójtowicz-Szefler, Department of Human Development Psychology

University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Faculty of Social Sciences

        prof. UWM, dr hab. Agnieszka Żyta, Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation

University of Warsaw, Faculty of Education

        dr Katarzyna Brzosko-Barratt, Department of Early Education and Teacher Training

        dr Joanna Dobkowska, Department of Early Education and Teacher Training

        dr Monika Skura, Department of Integration, Inclusion and Social Education

Questions regarding all matters related to research should be directed to the Project Manager: Jerzy Leyk, PhD, Foundation “Centre for Plurilingualism and Intercultural Communication – PLURIKO”; e-mail: jerzy.leyk@op.pl; tel.: +48 607 328418.