Effect of Electronic Device Use: Improving Skills of Children with ASD

The Effectiveness of Electronic Devices in improving Skills of Children with ASD
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The Effectiveness of Electronic Devices in improving Skills of Children with ASD
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects a child’s development, thus affecting their communication and behavior. Children in the spectrum display deficit in such social skills as solving social problems, initiating a conversation, and responding in social circumstances. Efforts have been made to resolve the deficits through social skills intervention, and technology has been widely used to help with the situation. Over the years, there has been a number of Augmented and Alternative Communication (ACC) electronic devices that have been used for children in the spectrum to help overcome barriers and thus facilitate communication.
Background
ASD is a heterogeneous group that consists of neurobehavioral syndromes whose characteristics include having difficulties developing social relationships and communicating. These individuals have an imagination that can be either limited or severely impaired, with rigid and repetitive behavioral patterns indicated by the strong lack of interest. ASD is referred to as a spectrum since there is a range of severities with ASD, ranging from mild to functioning close to normal functioning in different areas (Brignell et al., 2018). A child with the spectrum, in some cases, can be very severe to the point that social function is almost impossible.
Children with ASD have little or no interest in socializing with other people. The case is also evident at home, where they show no interest in interacting with their siblings, and they resist smiling or cuddling with parents or other siblings. Children, in most cases, initiate interactions aimed at serving their immediate needs and wants and are most likely to play alone. In most cases, a child in the spectrum plays repetitively with one object, is unable to imitate, and is not likely to respond to a wave or a smile.
Language can be classified as verbal and non-verbal, and both are affected in the case of an ASD. A child with autism is said to have impaired non-verbal communication skills if they have poor eye contact, inappropriate body language, avoiding gazes, and poor interpersonal synchrony (Lorah et al., 2018). Children with ASD also tend to only use gestures in an attempt to acquire material possessions rather than in expressing their feelings. The impaired nonverbal language prevents a child from running towards parents whose arms are outstretched for a hug and are less likely to follow a parent’s pointing fingers or gaze.
A child is in the spectrum lacks language skills in comprehension, implying that they have challenges understanding and interpreting concepts or any ideas being communicated to them. In semantics, these children are unable to encode meaning relevant to the conversation while also having difficulty in word retrieval (Ganz, 2015). The children also have challenges in verb endings, pronouns, and tenses.
Incidents of severe pragmatics are identified in a child who has High Functional Autism despite having perfect expressive language. Most of the children with High Functioning Autism are experts in particular areas, such as airline timetables, while some are excellent in photographic memories. In some instances, the children are Hyperlexic, implying that they are preoccupied with print, usually noted before they turn three (Ganz, 2015). In some cases, a child can read even without understanding.
The vital information helps understand and support children in the spectrum to improve their abilities using Alternative 7 Augmented Communication electronic devices. In reference to Iacono et al. (2016), AAC tools benefit children in the spectrum as they are the most effective intervention.
Intervention
The use of AAC as an intervention method is aimed at helping children with ASD to overcome their challenges in communication and thus meet their needs to express what they feel. AAC can be divided between aided and unaided devices.
Unaided ACC devices are gestures and the use of manual signs. However, this approach is not widely used since most children do not know how to use sign language. Children in the spectrum have difficulty maintaining eye contact and lack imitation skills, which is likely to hinder this technique from working (Lorah et l., 2018). Also, caregivers and parents might lack the necessary sign language techniques, thus hindering communication
The use of aided devices is the most commonly used. In recent years, there has been an increase in the focus on new devel...