Inclusive Digital Technologies in the Classroom: A case study focused on students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the final years of elementary school

Abstract

Inclusive education in Brazil is part of an educational policy from the Law of Directives and Bases of National Education (LDBN 9394/96), which determines that people with special needs must be included in regular education classrooms. Overall, educational institutions lack professionals and content that favours inclusive education. The current work focused on students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), aiming to create and validate didactic sequences with the use of augmented reality (AR) to increase class engagement whilst providing to teachers and their assistants tools for the creation of other didactic sequences regardless of the curricular component. The research was exploratory, using the procedures applied in case studies. Once the bibliographic study was carried out and the AR tools pre-selected, the authors collected data with teachers and later suggested and validated the didactic sequences carried out by the students. The research showed the potential of AR as a tool to engage and make it possible to incorporate adapted school activities in order to have a greater participation of students with ASD. It was observed that training teachers and assistants to use other digital technological resources is essential for other practices to be developed and for the inclusion process to become increasingly natural.

Improving Social Communication and Social Interaction Skills in Students with Autism-Spectrum Disorder through Smart-Board Use

“…He stressed that these augmentations might help students to achieve adequate degrees of social integration and to thereby satisfy their communicative, social, linguistic, and educational needs. Looking beyond the SB, Melo et al (2022) showed that training teachers and assistants to use additional digital technology resources is necessary to develop other practices and to foster greater inclusion of students with ASD. Additionally, the aforementioned study by Yeong et al (2022), whose results showed that all students with ASD learned to operate the iPad independently, access the educational materials provided through e-books, and apply these skills when learning independently and performing new daily living tasks, also showed that the students' responses improved after training in the use of the iPad.…”

“…Karakuş & Varalan (2021) also tried to develop the skills of students with MID by utilising interactive map applications (e.g., Google Maps and Yandex Maps) as well as applications on the telephone, computer, and the SB; to determine the most effective way to implement applications, they sought details about the issues that arose during practice, which would enable them to suggest potential solutions. Melo et al (2022) investigated the use of augmented reality as a modern education technology that could enhance class participation by students with ASD by promoting the integration of modified school activities.…”

Digital games as tools for corporate work and movement in the learning process

“…There is also research in recent years that confirms that learning using movements and gestures, rather than restricting them, promotes more effective learning for students (Cook, 2008). A minimum of physical exercises can contribute to their learning, because when they actively participate in such a process, they memorize the teachings better than when received passively (Lucht, 2010;Melo, 2022). Antunes (2003) says that the word game moves away from the meaning of competition and approaches its Latin etymological origin, in the sense of fun, play, pastime.…”