Abstract:

With the rapid pace of emerging and changing technology, many options are now available for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families to support communication needs. The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes, perceptions, expectations, and beliefs that parents of children with ASD have about touch tablet technology (TTT) and related software applications, or “apps” as they have become known, in their child’s educational programming in the Vancouver, West Vancouver, North Vancouver and Coquitlam school districts in British Columbia, Canada. Although Apple has coined the phrase “There is an App for that,” the current increase in competing platforms and operating systems has led us to base our study on TTT in order to encompass both iPad and Android platforms. Devices have become readily available, relatively inexpensive and unobtrusive, and, with the increasing number of apps, multi-functional.

Our study was conducted in two parts. First, a survey was sent to parents of students with ASD via special education consultants and principals in the Vancouver, West Vancouver, North Vancouver, and Coquitlam School Districts. The goal of the survey was to collect parents’ basic demographic information and determine whether or not their children with ASD were using TTT for their learning. Second, based on the survey results, interviews were conducted with selected respondents to examine in further depth their perspectives on their children’s learning with TTT. Responses in our study have both confirmed and extended what we learned from our literature review about their perceptions and experiences of technology use with their children with ASD. Recommendations were made which have important implications for: fair access to funding for TTT, inclusion of children with ASD in the regular classroom setting using TTT as a tool in order to meet individual education goals and, consideration of meaningful collaboration with parents of children with ASD.