TEACHER’S PROBLEM IN DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILL FOR ...

TEACHER’S PROBLEM IN DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILL FOR CHILDREN WITH DOWN SYNDROME USING APPLIED

BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS IN POTAIS SALATIGA

THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan

Gunawan Saputro

112005048

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

2013

i



THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan

Gunawan Saputro

112005048

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

2013

ii

iii

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text.

Copyright@ 2013. Gunawan Saputro & Anne Indrayanti Timotius, M.Ed.

All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana, Christian University, Salatiga

Gunawan Saputro: ( )

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Gunawan Saputro 112005048

ABSTRACT This study was conducted to find out the teacher’s strategies and problems to help

the speech development to children with Down syndrome using Applied Behavior Analysis method. In this qualitative study, two research questions were raised: (1) What do the teachers do to help the speech development of children with Down syndrome using Applied Behavior Analysis method? (2) What difficulties or problems do teachers face in improving the speech production of Down syndrome children using the approach? Three teachers from POTAIS (Perhimpunan Orang Tua Anak Istimewa Salatiga) participated in this study. Two instruments were used to compile the data: observation and interview. The analysis of the data showed that there were nine ways that teachers did to develop speaking skill on children with Down syndrome using ABA. They were imitation, repeating, learning through game, learning through song/music, cognitive skill, looking at the object, reward, eye contact, and massage. The difficulties that the teachers faced were the different children’s condition in every meeting that influences the children’s concentration, the difficulty in making children with Down syndrome to produce their speech, and the limited AVA to support teaching learning process.

Key words: Applied Behavior Analysis, Down syndrome, speaking skill, teaching, and

vocabulary.

INTRODUCTION

In a social life, people absolutely need to communicate with others. Based on that

reason, communication skills are important and contribute to inclusion and integration.

Communication in human life includes not only speech, but also facial expressions,

smiles, gestures, pointing, high five signs, and alternative systems such as sign language

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and computer-based systems (Kumin, 2003). Children and adults are more likely to

interact when they can understand and be understood. At home, in school, and in the

community, a functional understandable communication system facilitates relationships.

So, speaking as a part of communication in human life has important role in

communication.

As an important part in communication, speaking skill is not used by normal

people to have interaction with others, but people with disability also need it. Sometimes

we forgot that there were some people around us who have special need. They may have

disability learning or genetic disorder.

Nowadays there are many children who are affected with Down syndrome and it

is the most common genetic disorder. According to Payne, Patton, Kauffman, Brown

(1983), Down syndrome is a kind of mental retardation which refers to the general

intellectual functioning with deficits in adaptive behavior. Payne, et al. (1983) also

explained that adaptive behavior here refers to one’s ability to cope with demands of

daily life and is applied as sensory-motor, communication, self-help, socialization,

academic, and vocational skill. Besides that, National Dissemination Center for Children

with Disabilities in http://nichcy.org/disability/specific/downsyndrome, explained that

down syndrome is the most common and readily identifiable chromosomal condition

related with human intellectual disabilities which is caused by a chromosomal

abnormality: for some unknown reason, an accident which happened in cell development

results in 47 instead of the usual 46 chromosomes. The extra chromosome changes the

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general development of the body and brain. Sietske (2011) describes that the

chromosomal condition is the leading cause of cognitive impairment. Down syndrome is

associated with mild to moderate learning disabilities, developmental delays,

characteristic facial features, and low muscle tone in early infancy.

Mayo clinic staff retrieved on April 7, 2011 states that Down syndrome results

when one of three types of abnormal cell division involving chromosome 21 occurs. All

three cell division abnormalities result in extra genetic material from chromosome 21.

Chromosome 21 is responsible for the characteristic features and developmental

problems of Down syndrome.

The three genetic variations that can cause Down syndrome include Trisomy 21,

Mosaic Down syndrome, and translocation Down syndrome. The first form of Down

syndrome is Trisomy 21 caused by abnormal cell division during the development of the

sperm cell or the egg cell. It makes more copies of chromosomes 21 to be three copies

instead of the usual two copies in all of his or her cells. The next is Mosaic Down

syndrome. In this form children have some cells with an extra copy of chromosome 21.

This mosaic of normal and abnormal cells is caused by abnormal cell division after

fertilization. The last, Translocation Down syndrome that makes possible the children

who affected with it have the usual two copies of chromosome 21, but they also have

additional material from chromosome 21 attached to the trans-located chromosome. This

form of Down syndrome is seldom to see.

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We can analyze or predict that a child is affected by Down syndrome or not from

the special or different facial appearance, but not all of the children with Down syndrome

have similar feature. Children with Down syndrome have characteristics like flattened

facial features, protruding tongue, small head, and upward slanting eyes, unusual for the

child's ethnic group

Facial characteristic of children with Down syndrome:

Figure 1: A two-year-old child with Down syndrome. (From: http:

www.rcsismj.com/vol-5/chediak-higashi-trisomy-21)

Besides that, according to Mayo clinic staff, infants born with Down syndrome

may be of average size, but typically they grow slowly and remain shorter than other

children of similar age. Children with Down syndrome also have some degree of mental

retardation, most often in the moderate range. Papajohn (1982) described that “they are

related to as an individual with difficulties caused primarily by faulty learning or

maladaptive experiences from the past and are maintained in the present by specific

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definable conditions”. (p.9). Children who affected by Down syndrome have delay or

difficulty on speech production and learning, but they are believed have an ability to

learn language and will have language development like the normal children. So, they

also have a change to learn how to speak, read, and write with appropriate rule or way

and environment. Based on the fact and theory, some researchers suggested some

treatments for Down syndrome recovery. Recently, some studies try to connect the Down

syndrome recovery and cognitive development, especially language learning and

language development for children with autism or Down syndrome. Actually learning

was the result of environment rather than genetic factors (Skinner, 1971 in William &

Burden, 1997). Based on the some statements and findings above I believe that children

with mental disorder like down syndrome can have development on their cognitive and

skill of learning.

Kumin (2003) stated that “the important pre-speech and pre-language skills are

the ability to imitate and echo sounds; turn-taking skills (learned through games); visual

skills (looking at the speaker and looking at objects); auditory skills (listening to music

and speech for lengthening periods of time, listening to speech sounds); tactile skills

(learning about touch, exploring objects in the mouth); oral motor skills (using the

tongue, moving lips); and cognitive skills (understanding object permanence, cause and

effect relationships)”. The theory is related with a therapy method named Applied

Behavior Analysis (ABA) which is used as treatment for developing speaking skill on

children with Down syndrome.

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I think we are not familiar with Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) before, but we

need to know what ABA is. ABA is a kind of behavioral approach which is believed as

an alternative to the medical model for autism (Kozloff, 1973). "Applied" means practice,

not just theory or observation. The term of Applied Behavior Analysis is consisting of

"Behavior analysis" that is one of the learning theories that understanding what leads to

get new skills (Jennifer.1985). The word "behavior" means the activity and responds

which the children do when talking about learning to talk, play, and live as a complex

social animal, but to a behaviorist all these can be taught, so long as there are intact brain

functions to learn and practice the skills. Another statement from Wolpe (1982) said that

“behavior analysis is the process of gathering and sifting information to be used in the

conduct of behavior therapy.” (p.57).

The processes and roles are different with teaching communication skill to normal

children. Cooper (2001) said that “by using direct and daily measurement of student

academic and behaviors, teachers may be in a position to defend themselves against

educational fads and other pressures for unproven educational change.” Teacher of Down

syndrome child have an extra role as a therapist. According to PapaJohn (1982), the

therapist or teacher should be empathetic and supportive, especially if he or she does the

treatment by applying ABA method. In most method which is related with behavior

approach, activities therapy is needed as a type of treatment. Teacher must be ready and

master on it because it is about the use of work-oriented, recreational, and creative-

expressive activities for enhancing psychosocial functioning in order to help the language

development of the children (Mosey, 1973). Besides that, Wolpe (1982) also stated “The

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therapist’s central focus is on the distress and disablement that have brought the patient to

seek treatment.” ( p.57 ).

Another thing that we need to know, in ABA there is functional relationship

between human behavior and the environment (Hernandez and Ikkanda, 2012). In the

other words, ABA is a teaching technique which leads children or learners to get new

skill that explores learner’s activities and responds when learning to talk and doing

interaction in social life. So, the keys of the technique are the role of teacher or care

giver, student’s respond, learning media, and practice.

Figure 2: Factors that influencing Applied Behavior Analysis Method

To support the statement of Hernandez and Ikkanda (2012), Weiss&Harris (2001)

found the term adult-mediated strategies which focused on adults as mediators and as

reinforcement agents of appropriate behavior. In this journal I will focus on teacher-

therapist and parents which doing their role using ABA with right principles as mediator

and reinforcement agent.

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Team from Ontario Ministry of Education (2007) found four principles of ABA.

First, the program must be individualized. The program should be shaped by paying

attention to student’s specific profile, patterns of strength, and needs to decide learning

objective and teaching methods. Although the program must be individualized, the

various support is still needed and can be provided in either individually or group

situations. Second, positive reinforcement techniques are needed to attract and motivate

students to learn. Then, data must be collected and analyzed because it is very important

to measure student’s progress on behaviors and skills. Besides that, it can help teacher-

therapist to identify skills or behavior that need to be taught. The last, In ABA program

transfer skills should be emphasized in purpose to apply newly acquired positive behavior

in a wide variety of environments and in various contexts. Each student should be taught

to transfer skills acquired in one context to different context.

Correlation about speaking skill as main tool in communication with Down

syndrome has been a phenomena now. As an absolute condition in communication,

speaking skill is very important in children cognitive development. So, teacher-therapist

or care giver should develop it as primary part for communication. Many strategies and

approaches are used to improve children’s speaking skill, including speech development

using ABA.

Moreover, Hernandez and Ikkanda (2012) stated that development of social,

linguistic, academic, recreational, and self-care behaviors often are the focus of ABA

procedures. Besides that, according to the meaning of ABA above, it is one of the

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techniques used to develop speaking skill. In the process of learning, ABA must contain

activities or practices which need a respond from the learners that can incite their speech

development. From that theory, we can see that ABA procedure can be focused to help or

support linguistic skill including speech development.

Developing skill for children with mental retardation is not easy. It can be a hard

challenge for teacher/therapist and parents. This study will discuss and dig deeper about

the problems that teacher or parent find in doing treatment for children with Down

syndrome using ABA method.

After analyzing the process and problems in ABA for treatment and development

language skill on children with Down syndrome, I hope we can find some solutions to

solve the problems and it can help to support therapist or teachers and parents to evaluate

their way and improve their service in developing their children’s language skill.

Based on the aim, this study attempted to answer two research questions. First,

what do the teachers do to help the speech development of children with Down syndrome

using Applied Behavior Analysis method? And secondly, what difficulties or problems

do teachers face in improving the speech production for Down syndrome children using

the approach?

Friman (2006) had a research on ABA based treatments, and the results are ABA

has been successful at reducing extreme self-injurious behavior and improving severe

deficits in self-care and communication skills in that population includes language skills.

In another research about ABA, Ruef, Higgind, Glaeser,Patnode.(1998) also found that

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taking advantage of positive reinforcement, determining the right reward, reducing

rewards over time, keeping rewards interesting and making children feel confident

become the strategies that should be applied by teacher-therapist to increase positive

behavior on the children. Besides that, according the finding of Papajohn (1982),

interacting system can be an important part in behavior treatment like ABA. So, based on

the some literatures above, the treatment on healing children with delay on language skill

needs the active roles from teacher-therapists who have interaction with children to

increase children’s positive behavior, especially in improving their speaking skill.

THE STUDY

The context of the study is a research in institution named POTAIS (Perkumpulan

Orang Tua Anak Istimewa) Salatiga. This institution was established by some parents that

have children with kinds of mental retardation or disabilities including Down syndrome.

Helping children with special needs to learn and motivate them to have positive behavior

in social life are the aims of the institution which have activities center in the location in

Merdeka Utara Street Salatiga. To help and support treatments and make a comfortable

teaching-learning condition the building is equipped by some classrooms and tools which

used as therapy means. Here, the children learn about understanding (eq: eye contact, one

way instruction, imitation to things, action response to things, function of action to

things, arranging beam with gradation, understanding the meaning of simple sentence,

answer the question, identical and non identical matching, identification, etc), behavior

development (eq: concentration, obedience, adaptation, scanning, expression and

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emotion, etc), language and communication development (including breath, oral motorist,

pronunciation, non verbal communication, verbal communication) and academic

development (including coloring, drawing, and etc). The program was designed to

support each other, so it makes possible if one activity includes two or more development

programs. Besides that, the children were taught with private way, so the process of

teaching and learning could be more comfortable and the children have more

concentration in learning.

This institution was chosen for this study because there is some competent

teacher-therapist who handles some children with Down syndrome and the teachers apply

ABA program to their children.

THE PARTICIPANTS

To support my research, I choose three teacher-therapists in POTAIS who have

experience to handle children with mental disorder. All of teacher-therapists here

graduated from “Politeknik Kesehatan Surakarta”. When doing their job, they handle

each child in turn based on the available schedule and they are rolling the schedule once

in three months. I think they are reliable to be participants for this study because they

have direct interaction with children using ABA and know more about ABA, the

implementation, advantages/disadvantages, and difficulties.

The data was collected in two ways that were interview and observation. I found

some data by interviewing the teacher-therapists who handle children with Down

syndrome using ABA method to answer second research question.

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The interview described about the difficulties which the teacher found, the

problem which the teacher and student face in applying ABA method in teaching learning

process, and the teacher’s attitude to handle the problems. This study used qualitative

method. The qualitative method is analyzed by using the technique of transcribing and

categorizing. Besides that, I tried to observe how the teachers conduct the teaching

learning process especially the application of ABA in developing speaking skill which

answered the first research question. The observation focused on how the teacher bring

the material in class, the activity which is given to the student, and the participation of

teacher to solve the student’s problem in learning process like how to increase the

student’s motivation.

I started my data by collecting the data by coming to POTAIS, meeting the staff

to get the permission for doing interview and observation. Then, I arranged the schedule

for having interview and observation. To get the consistency of the way which the

teacher and student applied in teaching learning process using ABA method, I needed at

least nine sessions to observe. I made transcription and took note to compose the

information and which I got from the observations and interviews. After finishing the

observation and interview, all the data was compiled and ready to be analyzed.

FINDING

Through nine observations in POTAIS, I could see the teaching learning process

in POTAIS. While doing observation, I focused on the way teachers improved children’s

speech using ABA method. From that, I found nine ways that were usually applied by

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teachers in POTAIS in teaching. They were imitation, repeating, learning through game,

learning through song/music, cognitive skill, looking at the object, reward, eye contact,

and massage. Besides that, I also got some important information about the teacher’s

difficulty or problems in teaching using ABA by interviewing the teachers in POTAIS.

From statements of the teachers in the interview and some cases which I saw during my

observation, I could see that there are three aspects that make problems to the teachers,

like children’s condition, speaking skill development, and AVA

A. The Ways in Speech Development using ABA

Imitation, repeating, learning through game, learning through song/music, cognitive skill,

looking at the object, reward, eye contact, massage

A.1. Imitation

Teachers in POTAIS chose imitation as one of ways to be applied in teaching.

Ms. Hesty, one of teachers in POTAIS, said that “ABA is known as imitate concept”, so

most material in ABA usually delivered through imitating. The way was aimed to make

children remember easily about vocabularies. However, we need to know that it is not

easy to ask children with Down syndrome to say something, when teachers ask ‘selamat

siang’, they keep silent. If teacher asked children to pray, they only kept silent. To excite

children to say something or speak, teachers usually ask children to imitate what the

teachers say. It is not easy to make children imitate or give response to the teacher. The

teachers should be repeating the words or sentences again and again until the children

show a response.

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For example:

Teacher: “Ayo suaranya lebih keras! (hold child’s face and doing eye’s contact to the child) kupu.”

Child: “Kupu (with a little bit more clear voice)”

Teacher: “Kupu.”

Child: “(silent)”

Shadow teacher: “Adi”

Teacher: “Kupu”

Child: “Kupu (with a little bit more clear voice)”

In the example, the teacher asks the child to imitate her to say word ‘butterfly’.

A.2 Repeating

Some cases which I found in POTAIS, all children with Down syndrome here

have very limited pronunciation. Actually they understood about the instruction and how

to answer but they were not able to express the answer into verbal communication.

Teachers should repeat the question and answer two or more times to help or excite

children’s pronunciation. Teachers could include speaking skill development in identical

or non identical matching, identification, reading, writing, calculation, etc. When teachers

asked children to match pictures, she asked ‘What is it?’ in order to make children to

produce their pronunciation, asked children to read number are also used to the same

purpose. Sometime children could answer with complete pronunciation but mostly with

the last one syllable like when they answered ‘yellow’ they only said low or sometimes

teacher should say ‘ye…….’ And the children continued with ‘low’. Other examples

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from my observation:

Teacher: “Ini gambar apa Di (shows a picture of butterfly)”

Child: “(silent and look at the picture)”

Teacher: “Gambar apa Di?”

Child: “(silent and look at the picture)”

Shadow teacher: “Di gambar apa Di?”

Child: “(bows his head and keep silent)”

Teacher: “Apa Di? Ku…..”

Child: “(bows his head and keep silent)”

Teacher: “Adi lihat Bu Nadya!”

Child: “(still bows his head)”

Shadow teacher: “Adi lihat bu Nadya (hold the child’s head and direct him to look at the teacher’s face)

Child: “(lift up his head and look at the teacher’s face but keep silent)”

Teacher: “Gambar apa Di? Ku…. (doing eye’s contact)”

Child: “(diam)”

Teacher: “Ku… kupu”

Shadow teacher: “Apa Di? Ku….”


Shadow teacher: “Adi… Apa Di? Ku…”


Shadow teacher: “Kupu”

Teacher: “Ku…. (doing eye’s contact)”

Child: “Pu (with soft voice)”

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In the example above when teacher asked the child to guess what the picture is, the child

was silent, so she should repeat the question again and again until the children are able to

speak. If the child still keeps silent, the teacher helps him with first syllable and the child

continues with the next syllables.

A.3 Learning Through Game

Turn taking skills that means learning trough game is suggested to do because in

activity therapy the children’s emotion condition and concentration is not consistent or

not always good all the time, some time they in bad mood condition, learning trough

game is a good way to make children to be excited about the material. Teachers in

POTAIS usually give games which are suitable with children’s interest, like playing

puzzle, playing in ball pool, football, jumping on trampoline, etc. When playing, teachers

usually bring in material by asking children about something like ‘are you tired?’, ‘Do

you want playing football?’, and ‘Are you finish?’ The questions should be asked until

the children answer it or ask the children to imitate what the teachers say or do.

A.4 Learning With Song/Music

In developing children’s auditory skill, teachers usually play some children’s song

using tape recorder. Sometime they ask children to follow the song. This activity usually

use while children have massage service, in the end of meeting, or as ice breaker in the

middle of meeting. Besides that, teacher could sing a song with gestures, it can attract

children to pay attention to the teacher and some time they gave respond, like trying to

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imitate some words of the song, imitate teacher’s gesture, bubbling, or just look at the

teacher with no action. So, by using music or song in teaching is not only to avoid the

boringness but also to develop children’s auditory skill.

Teacher: “Pandai sekali Dini (strokes the child’s head) sekarang nyanyi ya? Topi saya bundar bundar topi saya kalau tidak bundar bukan topi saya (sings with gesture). Ayo Dini nyanyi! Topi saya bundar bundar topi saya kalau tidak bundar bukan topi saya (with slow tempo)

Child: “(bubbling)”

The teacher could sing a song like the example above, she could modify the song with

some gestures to get attention from the child. When the child was interested and gave her

attention, the teacher could ask her to sing together although the child only bubbling.

A.5 Cognitive Skill

When student got mistake in their practice, teacher would say ‘No’ and if the

child has good cognitive skill, he/she would know that he/she should erase the answer

and change it with another answer. I often found in my observation like the example:

Teacher: Cari warna yang sama!

Shadow teacher: Cari warna yang sama!

Child: “(look at the pencils)”

Shadow teacher: Ambil!

Child: “(takes the red pencil)”

The example above is about the way of teacher to improve children’s cognitive

skill; teacher and shadow teacher gave an instruction to the child to find the same color

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with the teacher’s. In the example, when the shadow teacher gave comment to take the

same color, the child did what the teacher and shadow teacher want. It means that the

child’s cognitive skill was working.

A.6 Looking At the Object

This development program is related with learning through game, but for this

session the understanding about object become a focus. The goal of this development was

the children’s understanding about the shape, color, amount, etc. Some activities were

available to support the development program like matching picture which children look

at a picture then they should find another picture with the same shape, next example is

ask children to find other pictures with the same color, another example teacher could

asks children to find pictures or things with the same amount. It was a good program to

excite children understanding about identical or non identical object.

Example:

Teacher: “(changes the card’s position) Tunjuk merah!”

Child: “(point at the red card)”



The example above instructed children to match different things with same color.

The teacher asked the child to point at red card and the child did the instruction. To do

the activity, children should look at the object first, understand the color of the object,

looking for another object with same color then they connect it with a connector line.

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A.7 Reward

The another thing that be applied in POTAIS to support improving speaking skill

using ABA was doing positive reinforcement to children which implied in Ruef et al.

(1998) like giving reward when they could answer the teacher’s question, doing

instruction, or doing the practice correctly. Through giving the reward, children would

feel happy, enthusiastic, and it pushed them to repeat the same good behavior. The

rewards given are snack, cookie, or give several times for children to play game which

they like. Besides that, the most reward given to the student was praise, like “good, smart,

great, etc.”

Example:




Guru: “Pintar. Tunjuk merah!”

In the example above, teacher asked the child to point at the red card and the child

did what the teacher said. After that the teacher gave praise by saying “smart”. When

children did the good job or follow the instruction, teacher should give appraise to

increase the children motivation and confidence, they know that if they did the action,

they got appraise so they can do the same positive behavior.

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A.8 Eye contact

Eye contact was another important aspect in doing activities therapy on children

with Down syndrome which is one example of visual skill. By doing good and enough

eyes’ contact, teachers could get children’s attention and increase their confidence so

they have enough bravery to speak or answer the question.

Example:

Shadow teacher: “Adi tos (doing eye contact)”

Child: “(raise up his hand)”

Shadow teacher: “Pukul!”


Shadow teacher: “Adi yang pukul, Adi pukul! (doing eye contact closer)”

Child: “(hit the shadow teacher’s hand slowly)”

Shadow teacher: “Tos”


Shadow teacher: “bilang, tos (still doing eye contact)”

Child: “(silent and bows his head)”

Shadow teacher: “Adi lihat Bu Hesti! Adi (lift up the child’s head)”

Child: “(lift up his head)”

Shadow teacher: “Tos bilang tos (look at the child’s eyes)”

Child: “(keep silent)”

Shadow teacher: “Tos”

Child: “Tos (with slow voice)”

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From the example the teacher did eye’s contact to the child in purpose to make the child

rise up his hands and hit the teacher’s hands. The eye’s contact is used to get student’s

attention and make the children to be brave or more confident to do the instruction.

A.9 Massage

Teaching children with speaking problem like Down syndrome always interesting

because teachers that have role as therapist should give an extra service which is oral

massage. In POTAIS this medical model is performed before the class or some time in

the middle of teaching learning process. All of teacher in POTAIS had ability in doing

the massage; they usually use lotion and vibrator. The first way was by rubbing the lotion

and massaging around children’s mouth, in purpose to refine the oral nerve in order to

simplify children to use their oral especially for speak. Then, to complete and excite the

work of oral nerve, teachers used vibrator with some variant which is suitable with

children’s condition. When children felt suffer paint, teachers could identify by looking at

children facial’s expression so he/she should change the vibrator with the smoother one.

The last activity that also important in the massage was teachers take an ice cream stick

between the children’s lips and asks children to clip it. This action was used to check the

movement or the use of lips or oral to give respond to the thing in the mouth. Besides

that, it also had purpose in order to make children close their mouth, because most of

children with down syndrome had negative behavior which is always open their mouth

while they do anything so it should be repaired.

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In the execution, the development programs have relation each other. So, one

activity could contain two or more development program. It also suitable with the

Kumin’s theory (2003) that discuss about ability to imitate and echo sound; turn taking

skills which is learning through games; visual skills (looking at the object) ; auditory

skills (learning through song/music); oral motor skills (massage); and cognitive skills. All

of activities and development programs in POTAIS that I explain above with some

examples have relation and contain the aspects of Kumin’s theory to improve children’s

positive behavior especially on improving children’s speaking skill. Besides that, eye’s

contact and reward also have important role in teaching learning process on children with

Down syndrome. Theory of Rue et al. (1998) about the taking advantage of positive

reinforcement, determining the right reward, reducing rewards over time, keep rewards

interesting and make children feel confident as the strategies that should be applied by

teacher-therapist to increase positive behavior on children exactly applied in teaching

learning process by doing enough eye’s contact and giving praises when children doing

positive behavior.

B. The Difficulties for Teachers

Children’s condition, developing speaking skill, AVA

B.1 Children’s condition

Teaching children with Down syndrome needs the extra patience because they are

not always on good condition. It is related with children’s concentration or focus on

learning and they seem uncooperative so it influences the decline of positive behavior.

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Teachers should be sensitive about this. From the information which I got from teachers

in POTAIS I found some important causes that make children to be uncooperative in

class.

B.1.1 Children’s emotion

Teaching speaking skill using ABA to Down syndrome children exactly depends

on their concentration level. According to Ms. Tri Yuliani, a teacher in POTAIS, children

with Down syndrome was known have lower concentration than normal children, it

would be very difficult to have interaction with them when they are on bad mood, sleepy,

sickness, or angry. So, teachers should have an adaptation to the children’s condition and

does not force to deliver the prepared material. Teachers could see the condition of their

children, they are able to learn the prepared material or not. If no, the teachers usually

delay the prepared material and move to other activities which probably can rise up

children’s concentration. The activity usually adapts to the children’s interest like

scratching, hit toy bars, arranging puzzle, etc.

B.1.2 The difference of behavior’s learning style

Another thing that made the decline of children’s positive behavior is the

difference style of learning. Based on the information from Ms. Hesty, the problem came

mostly after holiday; the teachers felt that there is something different with their children.

After I dig the information deeper about that, apparently the cause was the difference

style of learning process in POTAIS and at their home. She as a teacher there also

recognized that one of the disadvantages of ABA is making children like a “robot”. She

added that ABA is a imitate concept which ask the children to imitate the behavior of

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their teachers like when they begin or finish the class, teachers ask them to have positive

behavior in greeting. For example teacher asks children to say “good afternoon mom”,

children usually imitate the same words, sentence, and accent with the teacher said.

Teacher: “Sudah, berdoa! Berdoa gimana? (asks children to pray) Alhamdulilah irohman irohim, ya Allah Adi sudah belajar sekarang mau pulang lindungi sampai dirumah amin. Selamat siang Adi”


Teacher: “Selamat si”


Teacher: “Si…”

Child: “Ang (with unclear voice)”

Teacher: “Terima….”


Teacher: “terima ka…”

Child: “Si”

Teacher: “Bu…. Bu siapa?”


Teacher: “Bu…”

Child: “Bu (with slow voice)”

Teacher: “Bu Tri”

Child: “Bu Tri (with unclear voice)”

From the example above it is clear that the teacher wanted the child to do the

same thing like the teacher did through imitating the behavior. The teacher unconsciously

made children to imitate the teacher behavior trough asked the child to greet the teacher

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using the similar form of greeting with the teacher. May be we think that it is an error

way and have bad effect to the children because they will be always depend on teacher’s

behavior as standard in their habit, but teachers in POTAIS have a reason about why they

do the way. They should do the way because children with Down syndrome usually keep

silent when they are asked by other people including teacher. By asking them to imitate

to the teacher, children’s memories will increase, they also are excited to produce their

speech, so it makes easier to the teacher in developing children speaking skill especially

on improving children’s pronunciation. But this way also had a weakness. Children was

used to imitate the behavior of their teacher, they are familiar with the instruction of their

teacher. We need to know that the teacher’s way to give instruction to the children is

different with parents or others. Children usually obey instructions with intonation,

strictness, and pronunciation which are same with what they have learnt in the class. So,

when they are at home and their parents or others give an instruction with different style

of accent, strictness, and pronunciation, they would not understand. However, the

communication between teachers and parents should be increased. Through this way,

teachers can give explanation to parents about how to teach or speak which their children.

Besides that, parents could continue the material which the teachers delivered in class to

be applied at home. On the contrary, teachers could get feedbacks from parents about the

children development at home, so teachers could know what way that they should apply

to deliver the material and kinds of material to the children.

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Another effect was when teachers were substituted every three months. Children

would feel they learn with foreign teacher with different style of instruction,

pronunciation, and the way in teaching. So, different intonation, strictness, and

pronunciation of each teacher would get different respond from children and it is needed

several times for children and teacher to have adaptation with the learning situations. A

solution was applied by the teachers, it is to place the previous teacher as shadow teacher

which company and help the main teacher in teaching learning process. Through this

way, a shadow teacher has an important role in making children understand about what

the main teacher said and be able to do the instructions.

B.2. Developing speaking skill

Most children with Down syndrome were unconfident to produce their speech. It

made teachers got a difficulty to develop their speaking skill. When teacher asked about

something, they keep silent only, so the teacher should repeat the questions or

instructions again and again until the children produce their sound. Some teachers

recognized that sometimes they felt bored to repeat questions or instructions again and

again. Besides that, based on Ms. Hesty experiences in teaching using ABA, she

recognized that developing children’s speaking skill especially on arranging words to be

a sentence is not easy. The children have difficulty on arranging words to be a sentence.

They usually answer the question with the last syllable of the word. The job of the

teacher is thinking about how to explore the way to make the children can have active

interaction with teachers or other people in a conversation.

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Example:

Teacher: “Iya. (continues the correction) lho habis lima? Habis lima berapa Di? (point at the example in the book) enam. E…… e apa ?”


Shadow teacher: “Enam”


Teacher: “E….”

Child: “Nam (with slow voice)”

From the example, we can see that when the teacher asked the child to say

something, the child only keep silent. Teacher asked the child to say ‘six’ but he only

kept silent and in the end he only mentioned the last syllable of the word. It means that

children with Down syndrome have a difficulty to pronounce words, they also mention

the last syllable but some time when they were in a good condition they would mention

complete word. Unfortunately teachers still have difficulty to teach them about how to

arrange words to be a simple sentence. It reminds me to the statement of the teachers in

POTAIS that ABA is effective to improve children vocabularies but it is not effective to

manage children’s understanding about sentence. The temporary way to handle this

problem is the teachers gives them examples and repeat it again and again until children

imitate to the teacher’s example.

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B.3 AVA

AVA is one of the important aspects which needed to support the process

development speaking skill to children with Down syndrome. By using the AVA,

children would be motivated to give respond to the material and make them memorize

easier about that. So far, teachers in POTAIS using some AVA’s like pictures, cards,

toys, etc. But according to the teachers it was not maximal to get the goal. Ms. Hesty said

that “children with Down syndrome need specific shape or need to know how to use an

object not only through the picture but it should be more real like miniatures which the

shape is same with the original one”. Besides that, when children learn about “animal” in

purpose to develop speaking skill; it is not enough to the student if they look at the simple

pictures or cards only about the topic, children would have more motivation when they

look at the object quickly and they would save it in their memorize. Unfortunately the

item of AVA in POTAIS is limited, so teachers should be more creative to make the

needed AVA by themselves.

According to Mosey (1973) work-oriented, recreational, and creative-expressive

activities are three aspects which should be mastered by a teacher, especially for

enhancing psychosocial functioning in order to help the language development of their

children. I saw that teachers in POTAIS have applied the theory in their teaching but in

the execution it is not as easy as we imagined before, there some problems that influence

the effectiveness of speaking development for children with down syndrome like the

29

adaptation with children’s condition, speaking skill’s development to produce word and

arrange sentences, and the last factor is the limited AVA.

CONCLUSION

Teaching is not as simple as transfer knowledge to the students only, especially in

teaching children with retardation such as Down syndrome. Teachers should give their

students the right programs which are suitable with what they need. This study discussed

the ways which is used in teaching learning process to improve speaking skill on children

with Down syndrome. There were some aspects or ways which teachers in POTAIS did

in teaching using ABA based on Kumin’s (2003) theory. The ways were imitation,

repeating, learning through game which the example activity of turn taking skill, learning

through song/music which increase visual skill development, cognitive skill, looking at

the object, reward, eye contact, and massage.

Teachers played the main role in Adult-mediated strategies which was introduced

by Weiss&Harris (2001). Something that came in my mind, as the mediators and

reinforcement agents which have mission to increase children’s or student’s positive

behavior they exactly found some difficulties in teaching. This research answered my

second research question about teacher’s difficulties in developing speaking skill to

children with Down syndrome using ABA. I found that there were some aspects that

became difficulties to the teachers in doing their program. First, the difference of

children’s condition in every meeting that influences the children’s concentration,

30

second, the difficulty in making children with Down syndrome to produce their speech,

and the last, available AVA is limited to support teaching learning process.

According to my observations and interviews, I conclude that teaching speaking

skill on children with Down syndrome using ABA was effective on the development of

vocabulary but not to arrange words to be a sentence. Besides that, it created some

difficulties which made teachers to have creative way to find the solution to handle the

problems. From this study, I got important information about what the teachers do and

their difficulties in developing the speech production of Down syndrome children using

ABA. This study can be used by teachers in POTAIS to evaluate and improve their

teaching way, moreover to reduce teacher’s difficulties. Further research is exactly

needed to create or modify the ways or program of teaching using ABA to be more

effective especially to improve children’s skill to arrange sentence and verbal

communication. Besides that, to create more conducive and effective teaching, the

teacher’s difficulties in teaching should be reduced with the other right solutions which

can be analyzed in the further research.

1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study would not have been completed without the help and support from

many people. I would like to express my gratitude and great thankfulness to the following

people who have assisted me in completing this study, they are:

Jesus Christ for His grace which led me to finish my study.

My supervisor Ms. Anne Indrayanti Timotius, M.Ed and my second reader

Ms. Christiana Sidupa, M.Hum for their guidance and feedback.

Teachers of POTAIS (Ms. Hesty, Ms. Tri, and Ms. Nadya), a boy who I

observed Adi and his mother for the willingness to help me had some

interviews and observations.

My lovely family (my dad, mom, Lia, Damaris, and Kiki) for the supports.

My close friends (Rizky, Anjar, Endar, Nina, Nuel, Cinintya, Maya, Rony,

Aji, and Mr. Wahyu) that helped and supported me with their time,

knowledge, and motivations. Thanks for our togetherness.

Others that participated to the completion of this study.

Gunawan Saputro

2

REFERENCES

Buckley, S. & Bird, G. (1993). Teaching children with Down syndrome to read. Retrieved on May 9, 2012 from http://www.down-syndrome.org/perspectives/9/

Hernandez, P. & Ikkanda, Z. (2012). Applied behavior analysis: Behavior management of children with autism spectrum disorders in dental environments. Retrieved on May 14, 2012 http://jada.ada.org/content/142/3/281.full

John, O.C. (2001). Applied Behavior Analysis in education. Retrieved on July 14, 2012 from http://abdullahdemir.biz/pdf/Applied-Behavior-Analysis-in-Education.pdf

Kozloff, M.A. (1973). Reaching the autistic child. Research Press

Kumin, L. (2003). Early communication skills for children with Down syndrome: Guide for parents and teachers. Bethesda, MD: Woodbine House. Retrieved on March 2, 2012 from http://www.ndss.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=138%3Aspeech-a-language-therapy&catid=51%3Atherapies-a-development&Itemid=142&limitstart=1

Mayo Clinic. (April 7,2011). Down syndrome. Retrieved on May 24,2011 from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/down-syndrome/ds00182/dsection=causes

Mosey, A.C. (1973). Activities therapy. New York: Raven Press Publishers

Ontario Ministry of Education. (May 17, 2007). Incorporating methods of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) into programs for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Retrieved on June 11,2012 from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/extra/eng/ppm/140.pdf

Papajohn, J.C. (1982). Intensive behavior therapy: The behavioral treatment of complex

emotional disorders. United States of America: Pergamon General Psychology Series

Payne, J.S., Patton, J.R., Kauffman, J.M., Brown, G.B. & Payne, R.A. (1983). Exceptional children in focus. A Bell & Howell Company

Porter. J. T. ( 1985, June 7). Applied Behaviour Analysis for Therapeutic Recreation specialist: Technological offerings for practitioners. The Ohio State University. Retrieved on June 13, 2012 from www.d.umn.edu/.../Behavior%20Analysis%20

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Ruef, M.B., Higgins, C., Glaeser., B.J.C, Patnode, M. (1998). Positive behavioral support: Strategies for teachers. Retrieved on July 18, 2012 from: http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=gse_fac&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.id%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dresearch%2520involving%2520

Saeed, N., Al-Saad, K., Shome, D., Jamsheer, H. (2012). A child with Chédiak-Higashi and Trisomy 21 syndromes. Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Student Medical Journal 2012,5, 47-49. Retrieved on June 11,2012 from http://www.rcsismj.com/vol-5/chediak-higashi-trisomy-21

Smith, M.F. & Burks, A.J. (1954). Teaching the low learning child. New York: Harper&Brothers

Weiss, M.J. & Harris, S.L. (2001). Teaching social skills to people with Autism. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Retrieved on June 11,2012 from http://autism-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Weiss-2001-teaching-social-skills-autism.pdf

William, M. & Burden, R.L. (1997). Psychology for language teachers: A social constructivist approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Wolpe, J. (1982). The practice of behavior therapy. United States of America: Pergamon Press

4

APPENDIX

SAMPLE INTERVIEW

Respondent 1: Ibu Tri Yuliani

Interviewer: Maaf bu, boleh tahu nama lengkap ibu?

Respondent: Nama saya Tri Yuliani

Interviewer: Pendidikan terakhirnya apa bu?

Respondent: Politeknik kesehatan Surakarta

Interviewer: Sudah berapa lama bu Tri mengajar di POTAIS?

Respondent: Kira-kira 8 tahun mas

Interviewer: Cukup lama juga ya? Lalu apa yang membuat bu Tri tertarik untuk mengajar disini sampai sekian lama?

Respondent: Yang jelas saya senang pada anak-anak dan kebetulan waktu itu ada tawaran untuk mengajar disini

Interviewer: Berapa anak yang ibu tangani saat ini?

Respondent: Kita sistemnya rolling mas, jadi bergantian setiap 3 bulan sekali tapi kadang juga menyesuaikan kondisi

Interviewer: Maksudnya menyesuaikan kondisi?

Respondent: Disini kan termasuk lembaga non formal dan anak-anaknya memiliki perilaku tidak seperti anak-anak pada umumnya, jadi mereka sering tidak masuk atau meminta untuk mengganti jam belajar sehingga kita harus mengatur ulang pembagian kelas

Interviewer: Owh, cukup merepotkan juga, menurut informasi yang saya terima, apakah betul staf pengajar disini menerapkan ABA untuk mengajar?

Respondent: Iya betul mas

Interviewer: Dari mana ibu belajar atau mengenal tentang ABA?

5

Respondent: Dari perkuliahan

Interviewer: Sejauh ini apa yang ibu ketahui tentang ABA?

Respondent: ABA adalah sebuah metode untuk membentuk perilaku anak

Interviewer: Mengapa ibu memilih ABA untuk diterapkan untuk mengajar anak-anak Down syndrome di POTAIS?

Respondent: Ya karena anak-anak disini memiliki gangguan dalam hal berperilaku

Interviewer: Lalu apa pendapat ibu tentang ABA? Setuju atau tidak?

Respondent: Kurang setuju karena terlalu terbatas sehingga anak kurang berkembang

Interviewer: Apakah menurut ibu ABA efektif untuk meningkatkan kemampuan berbicara pada anak?

Respondent: Untuk menambah kosakata efektif tapi untuk memahami apa yang dia ucapkan kurang efektif

Interviewer: Apa kesulitan – kesulitan yang ibu hadapi ketika menerapkan ABA? Lalu apa solusi yang telah dilakukan?

Respondent: Yang pertama tergantung konsentrasi anak, anak Down syndrome memiliki konsentrasi yang kurang baik dan akan sangat sulit sekali berinteraksi dengan anak ketika dia tidak mood, sedang sakit, mengantuk, atau sedang marah, untuk menyikapi hal itu kita harus mengarahkan anak pada peningkatan konsentrasi seperti memasang manik – manik dan mencoret – coret atau aktifitas lain sesuai minat anak; yang kedua, jika murni menerapkan ABA maka kemampuan lain kurang berkembang karena harus sesuai tahapan oleh karena itu kita mengkombinasi dengan massage, metode motorik dan lain sebagainya namun semuanya itu saling terkait; selain itu kita harus mengulang – ulang instruksi bahkan kadang kita merasa bosan kalau harus mengulang terus – menerus.

Interviewer: Mungkin ada informasi lain yang ingin ditambahkan bu?

Respondent: ehmmm tidak ada

Interviewer: Ok mungkin cukup sekian dulu interviewnya, terima kasih buat waktu dan informasinya.

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