L’enfant autiste, le clinicien et la tablette numerique. Pour un usage plus « libre » des tablettes numériques dans le cadre d’une médiation thérapeutique

Abstract

BackgroundMany researchers and clinicians for several years have shown a strong interest in the use of digital tablets with children with ASDs. However, it seems that the majority of publications on this subject mainly focus on specific applications created to respond to the difficulties of autistic children, particularly in the educational, pedagogical or cognitive remediation fields. However, it seems a regrettable fact to us to see digital tablets only from this angle. Indeed, these are not only simple palliative tools to the communication or comprehension difficulties of autistic children, but they allow them to couple their inner world with the digital worlds in a simple and adapted way. MethodBased on the case of an autistic child that we followed in a “digital tablet” mediation therapy, in a Children's Day Hospital, we will try to show how a “freer” use of these tools can also have multiple therapeutic interests. The “Therapy with digital tablet” will also be described to help the clinician wishing to set up this type of therapy in his institution. FindingsChang's case showed us that the use of the digital tablet in a dual patient/therapist situation offered the autistic child an opportunity to establish an intersubjective relationship, and that the “free” use of the tablet allowed him to express his internal experiences more easily. ConclusionFrom his digital tablet, the autistic child will be able to try different actions to see the impact they may have on the digital objects presented to him. Every action can then reveal new objects, new possibilities for action or communication which, if they take place in an interactive loop with the caregiver, can encourage him to develop his exploratory process. Finally, if the digital medium offered by the tablet is caught in an interactive loop with the therapist, who comments on what he observes and shares his emotions about what the child gives him to see, the digital tool becomes secondary in itself: it is no longer really what happens on the screen that matters in this therapeutic situation but what is played and said around the screen.