The Use of Ict as an Integral Teaching and Learning Tool for Children with Autism: A Challenge for Nigeria Education System

Abstract

The study focused on integrating information and communication technology (ICT) as an integral delivery tool for children with autism for a productive life in the society.  A survey design was adopted with two research questions. One hundred and eight (108) primary school teachers were selected for the study through a purposive random sampling technique. A 34-item questionnaire was used for data collection which was face validated by three experts and its reliability coefficient was 0.82 using Cronbach alpha method. The data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation. The results showed that teachers were clearly aware of most of the assistive technology tools as delivery tools that could be used for teaching children with autism. Again the teachers adopt instructional strategies for using assistive technology averagely to a great extent  It was recommended that assistive technology tools should be made available to the teachers in schools by the government and stakeholders, to help children with autism to maximize their potentials.

Keywords: ICT, Autism and Educational challenges