Comparing Book- and Tablet-Based Picture Activity Schedules: Acquisition and Preference.

Three preschoolers with autism learned new play tasks. Each child tried the same picture schedule in two ways: a small book with laminated cards or a tablet that swiped like a photo gallery.

The team used an alternating-treatments design. One format was used each day and they counted how many trials the child needed to finish the task alone.

Kids learned at the same speed with both tools. One child needed 8 trials with the book and 9 with the tablet—no real difference.

When asked, each child picked a favorite, but the choices did not match the learning speed. One liked the book, one liked the tablet, and one kept switching.

Gilroy et al. (2023) later saw the same thing in older kids with autism and ID. High-tech tablets and low-tech cards produced equal communication gains when the teaching plan stayed the same.

Fleury et al. (2018) ran a classroom RCT and also found no winner: four months of PECS cards or an SGD app gave the same boost in functional requests.

Danitz et al. (2014) meta-analysis seems to clash because it says SGDs beat PECS for kids without IDD. The gap closes when you notice the meta looked at speech growth, not task learning speed. Speed stayed equal across tools, matching Aimee et al.

You can stop worrying that tablets teach faster. Pick the format the child likes, then focus on good prompting and reinforcement. If a kid hugs the book, use the book. If he lights up for the iPad, use the iPad. Either way, the skill graph will climb at the same rate.