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Q: Impact of television on autistic children ( Answered,   0 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Impact of television on autistic children
Category: Reference, Education and News
Asked by: username28-ga
List Price: $25.00
Posted: 24 May 2005 06:18 PDT
Expires: 23 Jun 2005 06:18 PDT
Question ID: 524982
I need all the research available on the effects of technology,
primarily television, on autistic children.  Is there any research
that shows positive impact of television on autisc children? I found
on the web that "Repeating back what has been said, or being able to
sing an entire TV commercial or children's video is called
'echolalia.' Echolalia is actually good because it indicates that the
child's brain is processing language even though he may not comprehend
the meaning of the words."  I need more details if there are key
elements that help reach children with autism.
Answer  
Subject: Re: Impact of television on autistic children
Answered By: websearcher-ga on 24 May 2005 06:39 PDT
 
Hi username28:

Thanks for the interesting question. I was able to find a lot of
material on the benefits using television, videos, computers, etc.
with autism sufferers. I have included a spectrum of those finding
below.

Please read the source pages and let me know if you need more
information and, if so, what you would like me to focus on.

TV, Computers, and Video Games?How Much Is Too Much?
URL: http://www.illinoisearlylearning.org/chat/weisheit-trans.htm
Quote:
**************
Christine 
We have a child with special needs who tends to interact very well
with videos that ask him to do things. Would you consider this type of
"TV watching" the same as any of the other types that have been
discussed thus far?

Carol Weisheit 
Christine: there has been some early research about children with
Asperger's Syndrome and autism that show they benefit from some usage
of videos in a limited manner. The research I have seen on this issue
addresses a child?s ability to socialize and play with toys in a
creative way. The videos show adults interacting or modeling with toys
in appropriate ways, so it?s not just any video watching that might
impact a child with Asperger?s Syndrome or autism.
*************

Practical Recommendations for Utilizing a Range of Instructional
Approaches in General Education Settings
URL: http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/education/practicalRecommend.html
Quote: "VSM is particularly appealing to use with people with autism
spectrum disorders because it does not require human interaction
(children with autism tend to relate to objects better than people),
it utilizes visual learning, it is predictable, and it is easy to
control (Buggey, Toombs, Gardener, and Cervetti, 1999).
Charlop-Christy, Le, and Freeman (2000) compared the effectiveness of
video modeling to in vivo or live modeling. Each of the five
participants had different target behaviors. For four of the children,
video modeling led to quicker acquisition and better generalization of
skills compared to in vivo modeling. They added that video modeling
was cheaper and less time consuming than in vivo modeling.
Charlop-Christy et al. (2000) further explained that children with
autism tend to enjoy watching television, and consequently are more
motivated to learn off a video than from a live person."

Do children with autism learn to read more readily by computer
assisted instruction or traditional book methods?: A pilot study
URL: http://aut.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/6/1/71
Quote: "The study evaluates the progress of eight children aged 3-5
years with autism attending a specialist teaching unit in their
development of reading skills in two conditions: computer instructed
learning and book based learning. The authors developed a direct
observation schedule to monitor autistic behaviours using computerized
techniques. The children were matched by age, severity of autistic
symptomatology and number of spoken words. They were initially
randomly allocated to the computer or book condition and crossed over
at 10 weeks. All of the children spent more time on task in the
computer condition than in the book condition. By the end of the study
after computer assisted learning, five of the eight children could
reliably identify at least three words. It was found that children
with autism spent more time on reading material when they accessed it
through a computer and were less resistant to its use."
Note: Full article will cost you $25.

THE NEXT LEVEL OF RESEARCH ON ELECTRONIC PLAY: POTENTIAL BENEFITS AND
CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES FOR CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
URL: http://www.humantechnology.jyu.fi/articles/volume1/2005/salonius-pasternak.pdf
Quote: "Computer and video games may also be beneficial in the context
of therapeutic play and play therapy. Studies have shown that
electronic play may also contribute positively in the contexts of
physiotherapy; occupational therapy; pain management; facilitating the
development of social skills in children and adolescents with learning
disabilities, mental retardation, and autism spectrum disorders;
reducing impulsivity in children and adolescents
with attention-deficit disorders; and improving problem-solving
strategies, self-regulation of arousal, cooperative behavior, and
self-esteem (Demarest, 2000; Gardner, 1991; Griffiths, 2003, 2004;
Spence, 1988). Electronic play may be a particularly effective method
to develop relationships and facilitate cooperative activities with
adolescents in clinical settings (Griffiths, 2003)."

PARENT REPORTED TREATMENTS
URL: http://www.autismuk.com/index13.htm
Quote: "Adam enjoyed pushing trains back and forth for long periods of
time, and watching television in general and repeated showings of
cartoons and other programmes in particular. We were not able to 'get
through' to Adam at all and it occurred to us that we might be able to
use the medium of television and video to communicate ideas to him.
Initially, everyday "objects" such as toys, pets and parents' faces
and corresponding words were put on, in the hope of establishing the
link between the two. This worked remarkably well and Adam learnt 250
words in the first six months about 220 directly from the video. It
seemed that the more he watched the video, the more interested he
became in further viewing."

Search Strategy (on Google):
* "autism" "benefits" "watching television" 

I hope this helps!

websearcher

Request for Answer Clarification by username28-ga on 02 Jun 2005 12:00 PDT
Thanks for you quick response.  Did you notice any research that is
directly related to pattern recognition?

Clarification of Answer by websearcher-ga on 03 Jun 2005 06:20 PDT
hi username28:

I don't recall seeing anything on pattern recognition, but I will have
another look for you. Unfortunately, I am going to be away from the
computer for a few days on a family emergency, but I'll get on it
early next week.

Thanks for your patience. 

websearcher

Clarification of Answer by websearcher-ga on 06 Jun 2005 10:25 PDT
Hello username28:

Unfortunately, I was unable to find any studies that linked watching
television/videos with pattern matching in autistic children.

It seems an accepted fact that pattern matching is one skill that many
autism suffers are good at, so I would *assume* that anything
(including on a television screen) that helped them in that area would
be generally good for them. But I can find no direct evidence.

Sorry.

websearcher
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