Abstract
This research explores the use of touchscreen devices with children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) regarding their engagement with schoolwork. The participant children’s attention, interaction and success with tablet computers and traditional materials were evaluated to fulfil the research aims. The study was conducted in a special needs education institution in Turkey. Video recording and observation were used to collect data. Seven students with different special needs participated in this study. Four sessions were held with each child; two sessions were held with traditional materials, and the other two sessions were held with the touchscreen device. Paired Sample T-Test was used to assess children’s attention and interaction time within two different conditions. Wilcoxon Test was used to analyse the success of children. The results show that the participants’ attention time was longer with the touchscreen device. Children’s interaction time and their success with the device were related to the mobile application. Observation data indicated that not all aspects of the applications were suitable for the students, which negatively affected their learning experience. This study concludes that although an increase of interest in introducing a new tool might have a primary role in the participants’ engagement, digital mobile devices could become indispensable for children with SEND. Therefore, more efforts should be canalised into developing mobile software that is carefully tailored for specific disabilities and individual needs.
 
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Highlights
Computer-assisted teaching and learning have been used for several decades to improve academic achievement
Considering the advantages and shortcomings of mobile technologies in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) education, this study aims to explore the impact of touchscreen devices on the engagement of children with SEND
The interaction time which was found by calculating the amount of time that each student has made a meaningful interaction with the touchscreen device and traditional material
Summary
Computer-assisted teaching and learning have been used for several decades to improve academic achievement. The use of touchscreen devices changed how assistive–technology is perceived in educational settings as digital technology has become more of a day-to-day tool than mounted into a part of the school and only accessed within the four walls of institutions (Moreno, 2020). Another advantage of using touchscreen devices is that they can use multi-media resources. This makes these tools even more paramount, considering children with special needs (e.g. mental disabilities) might tend to learn late and forget in a short time (Soykan & Özdamlı, 2017). Using technology-enhanced, multi-media resources could make their learning experience more robust and permanent (Soykan & Özdamlı, 2017)
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