Using the internet user’s self-report diagnostic tool to study specific characteristics of internet-based socialization among adolescents and young adults with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

Introduction. The study of specific characteristics of online socialization among adolescents and young adults with disabilities, especially intellectual disabilities, is a new and promising direction in special education that requires the development of methodological approaches and foundations for conducting research of this kind. Methods. The study of specifics characteristics of online socialization in individuals with intellectual disabilities is associated with a description of their socialization and online-based formation, in comparison with typically developing peers. Researchers should understand online interaction as a form of alternative communication, a way of adaptation and a potential source of online risks individuals face. The Internet User’s Self-report diagnostic tool was tested using the samples of typically developing adolescents and young adults (n = 181) and respondents of the same age with intellectual disabilities (n = 119). Results. Testing the Internet User’s Self-report using samples of adolescents and young adults with mental retardation and their typically developing adolescents showed that this diagnostic tool is easily understood by respondents from both groups and can identify qualitative and quantitative differences between the samples. The respondents with mental retardation show less online activity related to search for information and a low awareness of online phenomena and the phenomena of online interaction; they use the Internet as an additional field for realizing the need for communication and more aggressively protect their online interaction space from parental control. Discussion. The presented data open up promising directions of research in the field of online socialization of students with developmental disabilities, including (a) primary screening within the framework of the primary disease in comparison with typically developing peers, (b) in-depth study of age ranges within nosologies and identification of age differences within nosological groups, and (c) differentiated study comparing different nosological categories and identifying intergroup differences.