Effects of creating a news broadcast on the prosody of four students with developmental disabilities

Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine what effect creating a news broadcast would have on the prosody of two students diagnosed with autism and two students diagnosed with Down syndrome. Students produced seven news broadcasts in the study. In the last three broadcasts two elements were added to the class: Firstly, students began graphing their prosody scores, and secondly, teachers used video modeling to give students feedback on their prosody when they practiced reading their news stories. Two of the four students made significant improvements with their prosody. With the addition of video modeling, students continued to make gains with their prosody, but not as strongly as they did in the first four broadcasts. Graphing prosody scores had a negative effect on student motivation. Differences were noted in the motivation and prosody of students with autism and students with Down syndrome.