How Can Computers And Software Be Used To Help Educate Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders?

Oct. 23, 2008 -- Question: How can computers and software be used to help educate students with autism spectrum disorders?

Answer: Computers and computer software are helpful in educating students with autism spectrum disorders especially those that have a hard time with fine motor tasks like writing. A lot of times giving a computer so that the student can type out their answers during exams or projects are a lot more beneficial and it shows what the student actually knows rather than having them struggle with the task of the handwriting. For younger children, educational software can be used to teach some of those pre-academic skills like reading or math skills in a more fun educational way.

One issue you might want to watch out for is if you're letting the student use a computer, having a typical buddy with them so the student doesn't get stuck on just repeating the same question over and over again, pressing the same button over and over again because the typical peer will really want them to move on to the more challenging aspects of the computer program.

There's also some computer software available for older students that does word prediction where they start typing and it will give them a choice of words that they can choose from. So, that way they don't have to worry necessarily about vocabulary, they can just choose one word or two and get through the project and get through the assignment a lot quicker than, as I said, worrying about the different vocabulary words and which word actually fits into that sentence.