Essay On Ipads In Special Education

Implementation of iPads and other mobile devices as teaching tools in special education classrooms provide significant improvements in academic learning, as well as improvements in behavior, social engagement, communication and self-determination. Not only does the use of iPads help students in special education classrooms, they are also easy and manageable for teachers and parents to utilize. iPads are easy to operate, malleable in terms of updating applications, programs and software, and they are easy to transport across classrooms to the home. They are also easily individualized to the student 's specific disabilities, therefore providing specific educational tools per the students learning needs. Finding new methods to teach children with disabilities is increasingly important as students are faced with many challenges in and out of the classroom. Using iPads in the classroom in place of traditional teaching methods can greatly …show more content…
Teachers also preferred using the iPads because they were easy to use, took less time to prepare lessons, required fewer materials, and the students were able to communicate at a higher speed than when using the picture cards (Flores, 2012). Another study conducted found that children on the autism spectrum using iPads as opposed to using traditional methods (pencil, paper and flashcards) resulted in less challenging behavior from the students. It was also found that the both participants displayed greater engagement and positive behavior when the iPad was introduced as a teaching method (Neeley et al., 2013). This is another important aspect of the implementation of using iPads with students with disabilities because it decreases behavioral problems that disrupt lessons in the