There have been many studies on the use of assistive technologies in the development of children with special educational needs as well as those at risk of learning/ developmental disabilities. Due to the age range being studied most of the studies I looked at use the terminology “at risk of disability”, this is due to an inability to confirm a diagnosis at a young age however the children deemed at risk have consistencies with older children who have been diagnosed with the disability, whether it be difficulties with communication, literacy or numeracy.
Most studies within this area look at autism as it is an umbrella diagnosis for many with SEN and due to its range of characteristics many are misdiagnosed with autism. A lot also use the term
Assistive Technology
People with autism struggle to keep focus and attention on external or surrounding stimuli but they can hold their attention on isolated objects. The use of a computer or similar devices can help autistic people hold their focus on a screen without a need for outside stimuli.
Case studies
Murray D (1997)
There are arguments put forward by Murray D (1997) that computers used in therapy and education of children with autism can be beneficial for the development of self-awareness and self-esteem. The benefits of computer use can motivate speech, empathy and the sharing of accomplishments with others. The study cites Herschkowitz who strongly argued in favour of computer based learning in therapy and education being an effective aid in teaching language and academic skills to children with autism.
B. Robins, K. Dautenhahn & R. Te Boekhorst (2004)
A study by B. Robins et al looks at the potential of using robots specifically as educational and therapy toys for children with autism. The study was very focused (only four children) and only looked at a period of several months but findings clearly demonstrated improvements in the children’s abilities and that further study was vital in the area.
Shamir, Korat and Shlafer (2010)
The study by Shamir, Korat and Shlafer (2010) looked into the effect of e-book use and its impact on vocabulary and comprehension. It makes a comparison between those at risk of a learning disability and typically developing children. The study had 135 participants between the ages of five and seven, 60 were typically developing children and the other 75 were deemed at risk of learning disabilities. The participants were split into four groups at random, two were assigned e-book intervention and the other two were the control group and experienced the standard curriculum for kindergarten pupils in Israel. The results of the study showed a significant improvement in all the participants in the e-book intervention groups, the findings also show that typically developing children did better than those with risk of learning disabilities regardless of which group they were in. The study’s findings, that improvements are made in oral language, vocabulary and story comprehension are supported by De Jong and Bus who concluded that the synchronisation of highlighted text in addition to narration helps children better associate between pint and reading as well as helping keep track of the text a lot better.
Virtual Assistants
Virtual assistance such as Ok Google, Siri and Alexa may be a novelty to most but for children with SEN they can drastically improve quality of life. They can support the development of elements of social interaction skills such as imitation, turn taking, role-switch and communication competency.
Many SEN children have difficulties with tablet or pc interfaces. Due to them being complicated both visually and cognitively, some SEN children can find navigation on devices confusing or overwhelming. Virtual assistants have made information easier to access than ever before, allowing the child to ask any question and the device usually giving a correct and concise answer, this helps build confidence as well as care for SEN children who can get frustrated easily when an answer can’t be given. Because these devices are used for commercial rather than education they aren’t yet refined but are a great proof of concept and we will likely see applications like this in the near future
Programmes used in schools
There are many applications of technology in schools to help children with educational needs. One such service is IDL cloud which offers programmes in literacy and numeracy boasts “an average increase in reading and spelling ages of 11 months after only 26 hours use.” In children with dyslexia and other similar learning difficulties. IDL and other similar products are used across the UK and have dramatically improved the teaching/learning capabilities of students. Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is another service is used to teach functional communication with non-verbal students, helping some to develop speech and others to transition to a speech generating device (SGD) or a tablet/laptop with speech generating capabilities. Other than these many applications are used on various devices to encourage the development of children with SEND.
References
<2> https://idlsgroup.com/
<3>https://pecs-unitedkingdom.com/pecs/
virtual assistants
<4> https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10209-005-0116-3 <5>https://districtadministration.com/prepare-for-virtual-assistants-in-special-education/
Technology and students with special educational needs : new opportunities and future directions
Adina Shamir editor of compilation.; Malka Margalit editor of compilation.
2014
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