An open learning system for special needs education

Abstract

The field of special needs education in case of speech and language deficiencies has seen great success, utilizing a number of paper-based systems, to help young children experiencing difficulty in language acquisition and the understanding of languages. These systems employ card and paper-based illustrations, which are combined to create scenarios for children in order to expose them to new vocabulary in context. While this success has encouraged the use of such systems for a long time, problems have been identified that need addressing. This paper presents research toward the application of an Open Learning system for special needs education that aims to provide an evolution in language learning in the context of understanding spoken instruction. Users of this Open Learning system benefit from open content with novel presentation of keywords and associated context. The learning algorithm is derived from the field of applied computing in human biology using the concept of spaced repetition and providing a novel augmentation of the memorization process for special needs education in a global Open Education setting.