Neurodiversity and Digital Learning

As someone who has discovered many digital solutions for my own executive functioning issues (my ability to plan ahead, remember tasks, organize myself in a coherent and consistent way, recognize and properly calculate the time things take), I have developed a deep appreciation for the power that machines have to support and improve our lives. It took me a long time and a lot of struggle, but once I got the hang of tools like Calendar, digital alarm clocks, Pomodoro (a digital timer that breaks work into chunks), Excel, Trello (project management software), and Tiimo (personal time-management and planning software for neurodiverse people) to name a few, I began to feel confidence that if I set my mind to or committed to something, I couuld achieve it.  It's partly thanks to technology that I have aquired skills the average person might take for granted.

When I worked in the school system, I saw the power of technology to help all sorts of children who didn't fit the norm. For students who might be otherwise disengaged,  devices were highly motivating tools for learning. Technology offered educators time to focus on small group work - game-based learning programs helped children quickly master their time-tables while at the same time have a great time playing off against their fellow classmates as the teacher worked on a small group on targeted reading exercises on the mat. I saw the delight in children's faces when their correct responses triggered celebration horns, confetti and digital trophies as they progressed through each learning phase on a handwriting app. I noticed how perfectly the apps were configured to sustain focus and motivation. I gained great respect for Minecraft as a powerful regulation tool for children whose emotional challenges would otherwise not allow them to stay in class or produce any work. It provided cognitive challenges and a safe bridge through which they could maintain safe contact with other students in the class.

B. F. Skinner, one of the fathers of Applied Behaviour Analysis, thought that computer learning offered a unique opportunity to improve learning and a solution to one of the core issues with most public school pedagogy - that we typically expect all learners to be progressing along the same trajectory at essentially the same pace, in the same way, and at the same time. This might sound a little dated for much of New Zealand where there is currently a philosophical move towards play-based learning in the classroom, where independent, child-led  learning governs the flow of the classroom for much of the day. However, structurally, not much has changed and it means that there is now the expectation on teachers to monitor individualised programs for up to 30 children - a herculian, if not impossible task.

One of the benefits of technology, Skinner argued, was that programs could be coded to become perfect teacher aides - providing individualised learning schedules and systems of instruction that deliver perfectly timed reinforcement to optimize motivation and skill aquisition. The plus side of technology is that it can accurately record student performance without extra effort and can provide students with a greater level of autonomy and control over their learning. There's something much more autonomous and self-determining about following direction from an impersonal device than another human being. Most teachers don't know the learning science, and even if they do, don't have the time to implement it with precision, meaning that coercive strategies and other poor teaching mechanisms become the norm. Technology, on the other hand, doesn't lose track of your learning history and progress, it doesn't get frustrated by how quick or slow you are learning something, it won't hold a grudge, take things personally, or respond angrily if things aren't going to plan. These are some of the reasons that for children with who struggle with numeracy and literacy, there is great potential to utilize technology to help them take charge of their own learning.

There are some other upsides too - technology is cost effective and transportable. In an age of Covid where everyone is working from home and many parents have to double up as teachers or teacher aides, technology offers a helpful solution. This can particularly be the place for children with neurodiverse needs. I was speaking to an ABA specialist last year who engaged predominantly in telehealth services throughout the pandemic - these have boomed since we first dove into lockdown two years ago. She would call and coach carers, parents and teachers in real time as they implemented her behavioural programs through speaking through a bluetooth earpiece as the session was filmed in real-time. This sort of thing, although still far from being the norm in New Zealand, is much more accessible for parents who otherwise might struggle to find time to transport their children from place to place and on top of that, don't end up engaging a whole lot in all of the different sessions. In a way, this approach has sparked an opportunity for parents to become more engaged in learning that supports their children (although, arguably, this could add undue pressure to an already over-worked whanau that shouldn't be expected to be the primary educators as well as their children's carers). Still, it is undeniable that behaviours and learning styles are dependent on what is modelled to them in the environments where they spend the most time and that the most successful learning strategies incorporate a holistic system-wide, rather than purely individualized approach. Children model what they see and we grow most successfully as units where everyone inspires and feeds off each other.

I've been talking about how technology can maximise learning for individuals and their families through making programs and learning science easily accessible and engaging. An example of this is outlined in a piece of research I was looking at reported how the 3D-simulation program called "Behaviour Breakthroughs" teaches individuals with little to no knowledge of ABA principles the basic skills and appropriate intervention techniques needed to elicit positive behaviour from children. I have also been thinking about the fact that there has been talk within the ABA community recently about the potential for artificial intelligence could allow computers to analyse behavioural patterns and provide teachers and carers with task analyses and goals. These things sound kind of scary to me. With all of this positive talk about technology and its benefits, I actually I have a natural bias against it that tells me these sorts of things miss out the human heart dimension that is so key in any form of relationship - that as soon as we start allowing computers to devise coded formulaic programs for us follow we are getting into a dangerous territory where we become heartless, robotic, and obsessed with outcomes rather than process. But there's a part of me that remains curious and open to these possibilities, because I've also seen how much structured programs with scientifically broken down steps can produce such clarity and calm in the learning process.

But, one can't talk about neurodiversity and technology without mentioning the downsides. Despite all the good I saw with technology in the classroom, I also saw (and participated in) some pretty awful things too. Children being left on devices unmonitored for long periods of time. IPads being added into already overcomplicated learning schedules without consideration, system configuration, and clear definitions as to how they would be used. In these instances, I saw digital devices being used addictively, as a way to escape from tasks. This limited the chance that these devices could be used constructively for learning as they became associated with poor boundaries and non-goal directed pursuits, making it more difficult for appropriate terms of use to be learned and adopted. For example, one boy that I worked with became stuck in a loop using his electronic talker to make animal noises, which made him laugh. This in and of itself wasn't bad - he enjoyed the animal noises immensely! The issue was that it became a deeply engrained expectation and behaviour that meant he was unable to learn the self-control required to use it constructively for communication purposes. He would grab the device and automatically shoot straight for the animal section, becoming upset if he was unable to use it in this way.

There were many other issues I picked up on - the fact that often, technology is used instead of working through important functional and social skills such as writing your name by hand or learning how to ask someone nicely if you can have a turn with the ball. So, despite all that technology offers us, without clearly defined definitions and boundaries, they can become harmful instead of helpful. In the field of Applied Behaviour Analysis, this is called operational definitions - clear specification of how something is going to be used and monitored. For neurodiverse this is vital. Sadly, without the adequate resources, the best plans could not be broken down and defined appropriately, or carried out and monitored with integrity. This comes down to an issue of funding. We underestimate the enormity of what is involved in truly inclusive environments for the neurodiverse. Without proper consideration and planning, this population receives a whole lot of powerful technology that is mismanaged and underutilized.

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