PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS ON ENTERTAINING EDUCATIONAL CONTENT FOR LEARNERS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

Abstract

This paper reports on an ongoing study regarding the needs of autism spectrum disorder learners for entertaining learning materials. Previous researchers have introduced a number of assistive technologies, but the use of assistive technologies is problematic for students with autism spectrum disorder. The lack of entertaining learning material for autism spectrum disorder students may be one of the reasons. Therefore, this study proposed student–entred learning and self–paced learning approaches to better help autism spectrum disorder students for learning. The methods of fieldwork and semistructured interviews were utilized to investigate the needs of autism spectrum disorder learners for entertaining learning materials. During the fieldwork, the favorite or main leisure activities at home of the participants were collected. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers in special schools to investigate students’ needs for entertaining learning materials. The study results indicated that there are very few entertaining learning materials developed specifically for learners with autism spectrum disorder, but the need is urgent.