Specificity of Teaching Vocabulary to Primary School Students with Asperger’s Syndrome in ELT: Case Studies

Abstract

Nowadays, the number of children suffering from Autism Spectrum Disorders, especially those with diagnosed Asperger’s syndrome, is increasing steadily. Undoubtedly, this psychological disorder is one of the most complex and difficult to understand and deal with. Despite the fact that a lot of studies have been done so far, this phenomenon is not fully understood and further research should be done. The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between the choice of teaching methods, approaches and techniques to students with diagnosed Asperger’s syndrome and the learners’ knowledge gains in the selected aspects of the English language. It was hypothesized that if modifications in the process of teaching English are made with reference to the specificity of Asperger’s syndrome disorder, children with diagnosed AS will learn English faster. The findings of the study showed that the introduction of proper techniques and the adaptation of learning process to AS students’ preferences help them to achieve better results and gain more knowledge easily.