Date of Graduation

1996

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine whether specific learning disabled students would respond more quickly, accurately, and in the correct sequence to visual and auditory stimuli according to their predetermined modality preference within the context of the gymnasium and using motor skills. Male and female SLD college students (N = 58) were the participants for the study. Students attending Muskingum College were divided into four groups according to their modality preference toward auditory instruction or visual instruction. Modality preference was determined by the Incomplete Word and Visual Closure subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability. One of the visual learner groups (n = 18) received only visual stimuli while the other visual learner group (n = 15) received only auditory stimuli. One of the auditory learner groups (n = 10) received only auditory stimuli while the other auditory learner group (n = 15) received only visual stimuli. The participants were asked to perform the four skills of galloping, striking, kicking, and jumping. Scores were obtained on each participant's response speed, process accuracy, and sequence accuracy. Participants performed two trials of the same skill sequence. There were non-significant differences between the auditory learners receiving auditory stimuli (AL-AS) and those receiving visual stimuli (AL-VS). There were significant differences between the auditory learners receiving visual stimuli (AL-AS) and those visual learners receiving auditory stimuli (VL-AS). There was a significant difference between the visual learners receiving visual stimuli (VL-VS) in one of the three measures (sequence accuracy) than the auditory learners auditory stimuli (AL-AS). There were significant differences between the visual learners receiving visual stimuli (VL-VS) and those visual learners receiving auditory stimuli (VL-AS). There were significant differences between the visual learners receiving visual stimuli (VL-VS) in two of the three measures (process accuracy and sequence accuracy) compared with auditory learners receiving visual stimuli (AL-VS). There were significant differences between those groups receiving their preferred modality (AL-ASVL-VS) and those groups not receiving their preferred modality (AL-VSVL-AS). There was a significant difference between the participant's response time between trial one and trial two but no difference in process accuracy or sequence accuracy.

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