**Multiple Intelligences and Videogames: Intervention Proposal for Learning Disabilities Proposal for Learning Disabilities**

**Multiple Intelligences and Videogames: Intervention** 

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.68837

Patricia García‐Redondo, Trinidad García, Debora Areces, Pablo Garmen and Celestino Rodríguez Debora Areces, Pablo Garmen and Celestino Rodríguez Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Patricia García-Redondo, Trinidad García,

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.68837

#### **Abstract**

In recent years, there has been much research into the possibilities offered by digital tools for intervention in learning disabilities. The most recent studies have found that these tools can have positive effects on diverse aspects of learning, such as the acquisition of reading, writing, vocabulary and mathematics, as well as improvement of executive functioning and behavioural control skills. Despite the results showing the positive effects of using digital tools for students with learning disabilities, it remains necessary to widen their use in areas such as identification, assessment and intervention as early as possible. Within the current chapter, the application of the conceptual framework of multiple intelligences to the design of educational video games is proposed to facilitate diagnosis and improve intervention success in cases of learning disability. In this regard, a proposed novel tool is presented that may be used for the evaluation and intervention for students with learning disabilities.

**Keywords:** multiple intelligences, learning disabilities, evaluation, intervention, serious games, gamification, game‐based learning

### **1. Introduction**

Throughout history, our concept of intelligence has evolved from restrictive ideas positing a direct, unidirectional, static relationship between intelligence, learning ability and academic achievement, to current approaches characterising intelligence from a non‐unitary perspective. These new approaches try to understand the relationships between intelligence, learning and academic achievement from a more complex, bi‐directional and dynamic perspective.

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

This new perspective highlights the multiplicity of capabilities, structures and processes involved in intelligent behaviour, as well as the possible contributions teaching can make to the improvement and optimisation of intellectual skills and learning abilities [1–4]. Within these non‐unitary theories, there is one which stands out: Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences. This theory postulates that intelligence is composed of a mixture of abilities, skills and capabilities called intelligences, which are independent of each other, and which may be found in everybody waiting to be developed [2]. These postulates can be considered in the development of serious games.

In recent years, there has been much research into the possibilities offered by digital tools for intervention in learning disabilities. The latest research has found that these tools can have positive effects on various aspects such as the acquisition of reading skills [5, 6]; the development of vocabulary, language and listening skills [7]; treatment of dysgraphia [8]; mathematics learning [9–11]; and improvement in executive functioning in students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) [12–14].

Despite these studies showing the positive effects of digital tools, it is still necessary to look more closely at the usefulness of these tools in the identification, evaluation and earliest possible treatment of those students with learning disabilities.

What is proposed here is the fusion of two aspects—the postulates of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences and the use of digital tools—with the aim of designing and testing a tool that facilitates the diagnosis and treatment of students with learning disabilities.

The current state of the art on digital tools applied to learning difficulties identification and intervention is presented below. Multiple intelligences postulates are also described in relation to the new tool, Boogies Academy.
