Learning environment for autism spectrum disorders: a universal approach to the promotion of mathematical reasoning

Abstract

The use of digital media is considered an effective way to work academic content with students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) enabling the creation of creative and constructive environments and the development of differentiated, meaningful and quality activities. Despite this scenario, the proposal of digital applications for children and youth with ASD continues to attract little attention, namely, regarding the promotion of deductive reasoning, an area of great interest for individuals with this disorder. Due to its heterogeneity, ASD are an interesting filed to explore the potential of using universal design for learning (UDL) approaches. This paper describes a learning environment developed under this universal scope, emphasizing the results obtained during evaluation sessions conducted with end users aiming to evaluate a prototype of this environment with dynamic adaptation features and specifically designed to support the development of Mathematical Reasoning in children with ASD. The results obtained during the evaluation sessions reveal that the digital environment is of easy interaction, simple and intuitive, and has a great potential to be an important tool to support the promotion of mathematical reasoning in children with ASD. The data collected allowed the identification of some adjustments that must be performed to improve the digital environment.