Literature+Review

=**Research Proposal: Effective Uses of Technology for Students with Autism** =

==**Researched by: Bethany Stiefel** ==

===**Literature Review:** ===

Today’s culture is infused with rapid evolutions of technological enhancements. Technology is used in so many different facets of life that it has evolved from a luxury to a necessity (Gill, Mineo, Salkin, & Ziegler, 2008). With this evolution, the need for creating technology rich environments by which students will learn has emerged. In spite of economic struggles, there is still an obligation to provide teachers and students with the tools they need to be successful. Students with special needs, particularly students with autism, are no exception. Too often, students with disabilities, such as autism, are overlooked when it comes to using technology to enhance their educational programs. Teachers of such students have a clear focus of helping them become as independent as possible. In a world where technological literacy is a demand for citizens to successfully engage in day to day living, the independence of students with autism is hinged on their technology exposure in the classroom (Cheng, McGrath, Moore, & Powell, 2005). Many developments such as web 2.0 have transpired to offer students a more interactive technologically enhanced educational experience. Although these developments are on the right path to providing a more individualized technology experience for students with autism, teachers need to know how they can manipulate available technologies to make them appropriate for students with autism to be successful. Computers have been in classrooms for the last twenty years or more. Their presence, however, has become increasingly common in classrooms over the past decade. Their use in the classroom has been shifted to the forefront of instruction making them a most essential tool in education today (Farr & Jacklin, 2005). Computers are now being used for everything from taking attendance to providing students with interactive individual study programs. There are many ways computers can be used to improve the school experiences of students with autism. Stromer, Kimball, Kinney, and Taylor (2006) conducted research on how to use computers to provide autistic students with activity schedules. Studies have also been conducted to determine student engagement with electronic screen media among students with autism (Gill, Mineo, Salkin, & Ziegler, 2008). Collaborative virtual environments (Cheng, McGrath, Moore, & Powell, 2005), video modeling (Ayers & Langone, 2007), word processing (Broun, 2009), and computer presented social stories (Powell-Smith & Sansoti, 2008), have all been the focus of research studies concerning how to enhance social interaction (Farr & Jacklin, 2005), and task completion (Cronin, Gast, & Mechling, 2006) for students with autism using the computer. With so many studies on using the computer to aid students’ social interaction and task completion, students’ ability of //watching// something on a monitor is a big part of the engagement (Gill, Mineo, Salkin, & Ziegler, 2008). Given the research that has been done in the past, it is important to take a step further by finding ways to make using the computer in the classroom a more interactive experience for students with autism. Many studies used qualitative data, anecdotal records, and teacher observations of student behaviors as their approach to data collection. Web surveys were also a popular method of data collection to gain teacher insight to how an intervention worked in the special education classroom. A mixed approach of quantitative data (numerical statistics) and qualitative data (descriptions and observations) seems to be the most appropriate approach to determine whether specific interactive programs are effective in the classroom for students with autism. In //The Computer in the Classroom: A Medium for Enhancing Social Interaction with Young People with Autistic Spectrum Disorders// (2005), behavior checklists were used for case studies that were conducted with three autistic adolescent males. The behavior checklist with cited positive and negative behaviors such as hand flapping, rocking, yelling, or screaming seemed to be a most beneficial tool to determine student engagement. The checklist would have to be completed by an adult familiar with the students’ particular stereotypies to determine whether the behavior could be interpreted as positive or negative. //Collaborative Virtual Environment Technology for People with Autism// (Cheng, McGrath, Moore, & Powell, 2005) yielded great promise for interaction rich, computer-based activities in which students with autism may participate. Using //Second Life// software (2005) students have an avatar in which they communicate on computer-based content with co-avatars. Although this software demonstrates no face-to-face interaction time, it helps students with autism build the necessary social skills for real-life situation without the possible anxiety actually being face-to-face with a real person. Virtual reality software allows teachers to differentiate instruction (Stroud, 2010) to suit students’ needs. This is a great method to enhance autistic students’ communication skills due to the variation in each student’s ability level. A mixed approach of qualitative and quantitative will allow the research to show trends that will determine the best approaches to use for students with autism of different age groups, as well as see how technology affects a broad spectrum of stereotypies and sensory issues. Due to the bulk of the data collection being conducted in the special education classroom, it will be collected while students are working toward development of social, academic, and functional skills. In//Comparison of Static Picture and Video Prompting on the Performance of Cooking-Related Tasks by Students with Autism// (Gustafson & Mechling, 2008), instructors collected data on each student’s ability to perform each cooking-related task and was reported based on the percentage of tasks performed correctly by each student using pictures or video prompts. In this circumstance, quantitative data is appropriate to show the percentage, while a qualitative observation would allow the instructor to see the difference in how the task was performed. This mixed approach is also an appropriate method of data collection when evaluating autistic students’ engagement while using computers. The data collected from the research will be analyzed to determine what computer programs or tools can be used to boost engagement for students with autism, as well as improve important life skills. The data will help determine different approaches to use when teaching a specific set of skills while also allowing the students to meet their needs to be able to perform functional skills using technology on a day-to-day basis. Students with autism find technology intrinsically motivating (Broun, 2009) and this research will allow this motivation cannot be channeled into educational activities that will help them flourish as independent individuals.