Multisensory Phonics Method Innovation to Improve Beginning Reading Ability in Intellectually Impaired Students.: Inovasi Metode Fonik Multisensori untuk Meningkatkan Kemampuan Membaca Permulaan pada Siswa Tunagrahita.

I Komang Widarmika (Program Studi Magister Pendidikan Luar Biasa, Fakultas Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta)
Suyantiningsih Suyantiningsih (Program Studi Magister Pendidikan Luar Biasa, Fakultas Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta)

Indonesian Journal of Innovation Studies
Vol. 27 No. 4 (2026): October

General Background Early reading establishes a critical literacy foundation necessary for future academic achievement and broad knowledge acquisition. Specific Background Students with intellectual disabilities frequently encounter persistent difficulties in letter recognition, phonological decoding, and syllable blending due to slower cognitive processing and working memory limitations. Knowledge Gap Traditional verbal and visual reading instructions often fail to accommodate the concrete, repetitive, and varied sensory needs required to establish stable grapheme-phoneme correspondences in these learners. Aims This study investigates the application of a multisensory phonics approach to build the beginning reading competence of third-grade students with intellectual disabilities in an inclusive setting. Results Following a two-cycle classroom action research methodology, the participants' reading mastery scores progressed significantly from a pre-intervention maximum of 58% to post-intervention achievements of 81%, 94%, and 88%. Furthermore, classroom observations demonstrated notable increases in student attention, learning independence, and confidence during phonological decoding tasks. Novelty This intervention uniquely combines tactile, kinesthetic, visual, and auditory stimuli—such as modeling clay and finger tracing—to specifically bypass single-modality cognitive deficits during early decoding. Implications Integrating structured, multiple-sensory pathways offers inclusive educators a proven pedagogical strategy to accommodate diverse learning profiles and foster foundational literacy in special education environments. Highlights The multisensory phonological intervention raised participant reading scores from a 58% maximum to up to 94% across two action cycles. Integrating tactile and kinesthetic activities successfully bypassed single-modality cognitive limitations in students with intellectual disabilities. Participants demonstrated significant behavioral transitions toward independent decoding, higher attention spans, and increased oral reading confidence. Keywords Beginning Reading; Multisensory Phonics; Intellectual Disabilities; Inclusive Education; Action Research