Bringing together the School of Computer Science and the School of Psychology Seminar on a seminar on ‘Digital worlds and autism: collusion or communication?’
The talk given by Dr Sarah Parsons (Southampton Education School, University of Southampton) will take place today at 4 – 5pm, Co-op Lecture Theatre, Minerva Building. Refreshments from 3.45pm. We look forward to seeing you there.
Recent media headlines have raised concerns about children’s use of personal technologies. Similar concerns were raised when researchers started to investigate the educational potential of technologies for children with autism, suggesting that there was a danger for children to become addicted and reluctant to re-enter the real world.
Thus, the accusation – then and now – is that technologies create ‘digital bubbles’ that surround the user, such that the child is then less engaged with the ‘real world’, with potentially detrimental effects.
For children on the autism spectrum, who are diagnosed according to the existence of social and communication difficulties, the implied accusation is even stronger: that by using technologies for supporting learning we are somehow colluding with children’s disability.
This talk will take a critical look at this argument and present evidence that suggests a more positive role for technology in the lives of people with autism.