Abstract:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly used by university students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) to support reading, writing and studying, yet little is known about its perceived emotional impact in everyday academic life. Many SEN students already rely on AI tools in an autonomous way, for example to simplify texts, manage complex readings or organise written assignments, but their emotional experiences when interacting with these tools are rarely documented in a systematic form. This contribution presents a descriptive study that explores how the spontaneous educational use of AI relates to emotional wellbeing in SEN university students.

The study is carried out within a university support service for SEN students and focuses on their ordinary use of AI tools such as conversational agents and assistive applications for academic tasks.

The study addresses two main aspects. First, it describes how frequently, and for which educational purposes, SEN students use AI in their daily study routines, including activities such as summarising academic texts, planning essays, revising written work or preparing for exams. Second, it explores how students describe the emotional consequences of AI use, in terms of frustration, anxiety, motivation and perceived self-efficacy in managing academic tasks. Approximately fifty adult SEN students are invited to complete a single online questionnaire that combines closed and open-ended questions on AI usage patterns, perceived usefulness, and emotional experiences related to studying with AI tools.

The results will be presented through simple descriptive summaries and reflective commentary, giving central space to students’ own words and perceptions. Particular attention will be paid to recurring themes in how AI is experienced as an educational ally that can reduce overload and feelings of isolation, as well as situations in which AI is perceived as confusing, overwhelming or emotionally ambivalent. The contribution will discuss these emerging patterns in relation to the everyday work of university support services for SEN students and will open a dialogue on how to foster emotionally sustainable, ethically aware and pedagogically informed uses of AI in higher education teaching and learning.

Keywords:

Education, artificial intelligence, special educational needs, emotional wellbeing.