Technology-Supported Fantasy-Story Role-Play to Enhance Speaking and Social Interaction in Students with Intellectual Disabilities Study in Indonesian Special Primary Schools

Abstract Background Students with intellectual disabilities often have limited opportunities to practice oral communication and peer interaction, a challenge that can intensify when learning relies on technology-mediated delivery. Pedagogical approaches that combine narrative engagement with structured participation may help expand interactional opportunities. Objective This study examined whether a learning-technology (LT)–supported role-play intervention using fantasy stories improved speaking performance and social interaction among students with intellectual disabilities in an Indonesian special primary-school context. Methods A one-group pretest–posttest design was implemented with 50 students (grades 1–6) enrolled in a special primary school in Kendari, Indonesia. Students participated in fantasy-story sessions followed by guided role-play supported by LT (multimodal prompts). Speaking skills were assessed using a performance rubric, and social interaction using structured observation ratings. Descriptive statistics and paired-sample t-tests examined pre–post differences. Results Mean speaking scores increased from 5.56 (SD = 1.21) to 5.76 (SD = 1.29) but were not statistically significant (t(49) = 1.07, p = .291; d = 0.15). Social interaction scores increased from 5.80 (SD = 1.14) to 11.22 (SD = 3.72), yielding a significant and large improvement (t(49) = 11.74, p < .001; d = 1.66). After the intervention, 62% of students reached the “enough” category for social interaction. Conclusion LT-supported fantasy-story role-play appears promising for strengthening interactional engagement, even when short-term gains in measured speaking production are limited. Future work should test multi-component models that integrate explicit language targets and augmentative supports using stronger experimental controls, and report implementation fidelity and maintenance over time.