Effects of Tangible Teaching Materials According to Evaluation of Cognitive Development

Abstract

Students who have difficulty communicating with others verbally may be referred to as “individuals in the learning process of concept formation” rather than individuals with severe intellectual disability (SID) and/or autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Insufficient understanding of these individuals makes it more difficult to deal with comorbid behavior disorders. This chapter introduces an original evaluation battery using “Ohta Staging” and “Task of Birds” as tools to measure cognitive development. Four cases of individuals who grew up with strong behavior disorders will be described by employing the battery. Cognitive features of each case are detailed through original handmade tangible teaching materials (OHTTMs). The chapter will discuss the effects of object-based communication using OHTTMs, as it relates to the cognitive development measured by the battery, in terms of reducing behavior disorders. OHTTMs will be evaluated as communication and informal assessment tools rather than teaching aids.