Investigating the effectiveness of an online emotion recognition program in children with DLD

Citation:

Durgungoz, F. C., & St Clair, M. C. (2024). An interactive technology-based emotion recognition intervention for children with developmental language disorder: A longitudinal mixed-method study. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 1-17.

Key terms that are in this paper

·       Emotion recognition -  being able to label, process and express emotions.

Aim of the paper

·       Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) sometimes struggle to recognise others’ emotions.

·       They can also have difficulty managing their own emotions.

·       This can have negative impacts on their social life, mental health and behaviour.

·       This study aimed to look at how well an 8-week online program could improve children’s emotional recognition. Parents were actively involved in the program.

·       It also looked at wider outcomes of the program. For example, does the program improve children’s relationships with their friends?

What was found

·       Children’s recognition of basic emotions improved after the program.

·       Their emotional health and social interactions also improved after the program.

·       This was found in both surveys with the parents and reported in phone calls with parents.

·       Every child with DLD is different. This means that they have individual language and social support needs. Allowing parents to choose which tools to use strengthened family support.

·       Some children preferred some activities over others. This means they may have been more engaged in the activities they chose.

·       Parents thought that their children’s social confidence improved. More research is needed to find out the impact of this in social situations.

What does this mean?

·       Emotion recognition skills should be included in programs for children with DLD.

·       This could help children with DLD to better label their own and others’ emotions.

·       It could also improve relationships and behaviour in children with DLD.

·       The study shows that online programs can be effective in improving emotion recognition. This means that more parents can access emotion recognition programs.

Where can I read this paper?

·       You can read the whole paper for free by following this link: https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2024.2407659.