Interaction patterns between children and their teachers when using a specific multimedia and communication strategy: observations from children with autism and mixed intellectual disabilities.
A teacher-child computer literacy game produced small but real gains in talking and happiness while cutting adult prompts.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Teachers and kids sat together at a computer. They used a literacy game with stories, sounds, and pictures.
The kids had autism or intellectual disability. The team watched how much the children talked and how often the adults helped.
What they found
After the program, children spoke a little more and smiled more often.
Teachers gave fewer prompts to the autistic group when it was time to click or turn the page.
How this fits with other research
Williams et al. (2002) ran a similar computer-reading test the next year. They also saw more on-task time and new words, so the positive trend repeats.
Ledbetter-Cho et al. (2018) pooled nineteen tablet studies. Their big picture agrees: self-operated screens boost skills better than teacher-run ones. Field et al. (2001) fits right inside that pattern.
Peters et al. (2013) stretched the idea to preschool play. An iPad story raised pretend-talk for most toddlers, showing the same multimedia trick works at younger ages and in play, not just reading.
Why it matters
You can add a simple literacy game to your computer corner tomorrow. Let the learner control the mouse or touch the screen while you sit close. Fade prompts as soon as they tap confidently. The small language bumps and smiles seen here may grow with daily use.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study reports on observed interaction patterns between 20 children with autism and mixed intellectual disabilities (mean chronological age = 11:4 years; language age = 4:7 years) and their nine teachers working with a specially developed multimedia program aiming to increase literacy skills. An increase in verbal expression was found over time for the total group. Children with autism also showed increased enjoyment and willingness to seek help from their teachers. Teachers for both diagnostic groups reduced their instructions on how to handle the computer during the program but the decrease was greater in the teachers for children with autism. When the total group of children was subdivided according to language age (high versus low), it appears that those with a low language age showed an increase in verbal expressiveness from start to end of training. Those with a high language age showed increased enjoyment. It is concluded that more detailed studies of the interaction patterns between teachers and children are needed, and these should be related to children's language level as well as to diagnostic group.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2001 · doi:10.1177/1362361301005002007