Universitario

Using iPads with Students with ASD
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), also known as Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDDs), cause severe and pervasive impairment in thinking, feeling, language, and the ability to relate to others. These disorders are usually first diagnosed in early childhood and range from a severe form, called autistic disorder, through pervasive development disorder to a muchmilder form, Asperger syndrome. Autism Spectrum Disorders are life-long neurodevelopmental disabilities and can be characterised by -
* Impairments in verbal and non-verbal communication skills
* Impairments in reciprocal social interactions
* Stereotypical interests activities and behaviour
Critical factors include sex, age, personality, intellectual quotient and cognitionabilities. Home environment and other external influences including early intervention and therapy may also impact a child. There may be a wide range of overlapping presentations.
* Autistic Disorder
* Asperger's Disorder
* Atypical Autism
Impairments of social interaction can be identified in a number of ways. This can be evidenced in new or different environments, particularly whenattending kindergarten, day care and at school. The most frequent presentation can be an aloofness and failure to develop friendships and develop bonds. Children can seek people’s company but lack the ability to engage in two-way social interactions with one-sided, stilted, or repetitive social interactions.
They can be socially passive while tolerating social approaches, being awkward, avoidantor indifferent to eye contact of people working with them and even their parents and siblings. At school and in social situations they may have an inability to understand social rules e.g. unintentionally behaving in an inappropriate manner or making unusual or inappropriate sounds.
They can misinterpret information and signals as they have an impaired understanding of other people’smotivations, perspectives or feelings and can display markedly impaired use of non-verbal behaviours to regulate social interaction. In the classroom, children with ASD are evidenced as avoiding peers with a lack of spontaneously seeking to share enjoyment with others.
Therefore participation in typical classroom activities can present dilemmas for educators as they require a modified curriculum anddifferentiated content, teaching practices and strategies as well as visual and multi sensory aids and equipment. Expectations need to be altered to cater to their difference with participation and involvement being variable from day to day. An inability to concentrate, stay on task and to interact with others need to be accounted for with staff being aware of their difference in how they respond toinstructions and directions.

Accommodation using ICTs
Educators need to accommodate the learning, access and communication needs for every student in a special school, classroom or in a mainstream educational setting. A team of educators, teaching support personnel and therapists, together with valuable insights and input from parents, advocates and guardians, develop an educational overview withgoals set for each area of need. The goals decided upon and documented for each child in their Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) at the start of each year or term need to be carefully considered when using a new technology. It is very easy to be ‘wowed’ by the device and forget about meeting real needs. These devices can be beguiling. The Apps on an Android or Apple OS device should reflect therequired outcomes that the education team is pursuing, rather than allocating time to what could be meaningless experiences.
This has been the case for all new technologies that have made their way into education, including cassette players, Walkmans, VCRs, CD and DVD players, Satellite TV, PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) and the early mobile phones. It is not the device. It is how the device,...