Educators’ engagement with children with autism spectrum disorder in a learning environment with multiple technologies in Finland and China

Abstract

Technology-enhanced environments are increasingly used to enhance the interaction skills of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet little is known about how technology use influences interactions between educators and children. This article examined how educators engage with children with ASD in a technology-enhanced learning environment (LE). More precisely, the article investigated how educators verbally guide children with ASD during activities at four different technology-based workstations and how the children respond verbally and behaviorally to educators’ guidance. Seven children with ASD and their educators participated in this exploratory study. Data consisted of video recordings collected during interactional situations in technology-enhanced LEs with multiple technologies in Finland and China. The recordings were analyzed by developing a coding scheme in order to capture the educators’ verbal guidance and the children’s verbal and behavioral responses. The study showed that the educators engaged with children with ASD differently at different workstations, and the technology used shaped the educators’ verbal guidance and the children’s verbal and behavioral responses. These differences in educators’ verbal guidance and children’s responses between the workstations showed how the design and features of technology-enhanced solutions affected interactions around their use. Thus, by using versatile technologies, it was possible to shape the interaction between educators and children during educational activities and to provide children with ASD a variety of opportunities to practice communication and interaction skills.