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Background: Intellectual development disorder (IDD) is a challenging disorder that professionals, most notably teachers, are confronted with daily. Supporting oral language in the classroom is a complex challenge as teachers are expected to implement effective methods to support students' language. However, they face a persistent scarcity of scientific evidence to draw upon in their practice. Aims: This research provides a first overview of instructional methods and their effectiveness in this population. Method: Our search was conducted through various databases, generating a total of 931 articles. Data from the 14 selected studies were analyzed. Outcomes and results: The results reveal limited, heterogenous, and hardly comparable studies in terms of their characteristics (samples, language area, strategies, and effectiveness measures) suggesting a low level of evidence regarding the effectiveness of these practices. Conclusion and implications: We discuss the implications of these findings in light of the different factors contributing to the interventions' effectiveness, as well as considering the issue of transfer and generalization of acquired skills in IDD. We also reveal the urgent need for developing methods addressing cognitive load limitations such as implicit learning approaches, to enhances effectiveness and compensate the gap of available resources tailored to improve oral language outcomes in the IDD population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improvisational theater (improv) is a booming theatrical practice, applying in many fields (teaching, medicine or entrepreneurship). Its effects on cognitive and behavioral processes are beginning to be demonstrated, despite scientific publications that are still rare, particularly about language. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of improv on adolescent narrative skills. Twenty-seven middle school students were recruited and divided into two groups: an IMPRO group (n = 13), composed of novice and intermediate improvisers, and a CONTROL group (n = 14), composed of middle school students doing theater. The evaluation took place in two experimental times spaces 3 months apart (11 sessions). It consisted in the creation of a written narrative resulting from previously observed images. We used quantitative criteria to carry out the analysis of this story (coherence, cohesion, lexicon, and syntax), according to the methodologies of PELEA and EVALEO. We showed an effect of the improv on coherence, which suggests that the practice of improv introduces teenagers to improve the narrative skills and the planification of a story, unlike written theater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]