Educating Learners with Down Syndrome by Clarke Barbara. Faragher Rhonda

Author:Clarke, Barbara.,Faragher, Rhonda.
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781134673421
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

The interview protocol

As for the Early Numeracy Interview and EMU, the interview involves asking children to perform tasks with objects. For example, we put a collection of plastic teddy bears on the table and ask the participant to put all the yellow teddies together and then to count them. In another task, we ask them to put one straw in each cup, having put five plastic cups on the table. The equipment was presented in a variety of interesting boxes and containers to encourage curiosity in the tasks. A number of the tasks would be recognised by those who know the literature well on early mathematical development. The focus was on eliciting thinking and on strategies used. The original Early Numeracy Interview has been characterised as a form of ‘choose your own adventure’. The interviewer made a decision after each task, according to the script. Given success on a particular task, the interviewer continued with the next task in the domain as far as the child could go with success. Given difficulty with the task, the interviewer either abandoned that section of the interview and moved on to the next domain or moved into a ‘detour’, designed to elaborate more clearly the difficulty a child might be having with a particular content area.

A feature of the Early Numeracy Interview was the high ceiling that was achieved through inclusion of tasks designed to challenge all children. The script assumed a trajectory of learning based on previous work with typically developing children. We did not want to assume a trajectory for the purpose of this study and so the adaptation and flexibility was intended to help us to see what was possible rather than to provide comparison with typically developing children. We did ask the first question in a section using the same protocol to enable comparison but deviation was encouraged to enable the opportunity for children to ‘show what they know’. This requires an intuitive approach to interviewing, balancing the needs of the research with the comfort and well-being of the child in the moment. As a parent or familiar teacher was always present, this provided the interviewer with an opportunity for eye contact or a quick question as needed. The interview contained the following main mathematical foci and more specific content.

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