Science boosts skills of young people with intellectual disabilities

A new science program for people with intellectual disabilities has found the program has delivered great educational, social and economic benefits to students. The program, developed by a PhD scholar at ANU, uses science to engage students with intellectual disabilities, help them observe what is happening around them, evaluate what it means, and then help them provide a reasoned response. It has been implemented in three schools over the past 10 years, with around 60 students going through the program in the past two years. Program developer Vanessa de Kauwe said specialist schools who had implemented the program had reported overwhelmingly positive results. "The results have been overwhelmingly positive. Some students even go on to work, adult education, or both," said Ms de Kauwe from the ANU Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science. "Students begin building working models, creating controlled chemical reactions, and tracking processes in nature such as plant growth.