Impact of early intervention on the development of semantic memory in a sample of mentally handicapped children of a mild degree

Abstract

Early detection and intervention is one of the basic tasks that are relied upon in various fields, including the orthophonia, because of their role in developing the various skills and processes needed by the examinee in order to be able to get rid of the disorder or reduce its severity.

The current study aimed to find out the effect of early intervention on the development of semantic memory among a sample of mentally retarded children (mild degree) benefiting from early intervention and not benefiting from early intervention, the sample consisted of 06 cases divided into two groups, 03 cases benefiting from early intervention, and 03 cases not benefiting from early intervention, They study in special sections of the primary schools Mustafa Bin Boulaid and Mohamed Bin Yamina in the Blida State (Algeria).The study used the comparative descriptive approach based on a case study, and applied the Columbia test of Burgemeister, & al 1972 to verify the degree of disability, and the semantic memory test of Abdelaziz, S (2011). The results of the study found that: early intervention has an impact on the activity of semantic memory in mentally handicapped children with mild disability benefiting from early intervention, and that there are differences between mentally handicapped children with mild disabilities who benefit from early intervention and non-beneficiaries of early intervention.