Example Of Digital Pedagogical Material To Help Children In Early Childhood Education With Special Educational Needs

Introduction

New technologies can play a fundamental role in achieving the inclusion of all students in the educational system, taking into account the characteristics of each child, regardless of whether or not they have special educational needs.

Digital games allow to improve personalized attention, improving the inclusion of children with learning difficulties not only in school but also in our society. However, we must never forget that technologies are mere tools, facilitators that make it easier to interact with what is truly important: people.

What improvements do these digital games bring?

In general terms, new technologies can help children with special educational needs to gain autonomy and interact with their environment without external help; which directly favors their motivation and self-esteem, when they are more capable of facing new challenges… and overcoming them!

They can consist of both adapted hardware (modified keyboard, voice digitizer, tablets, modified mice, etc.) and specific educational software or programs that allow learning activities to be adapted. However, taking into account that each student has very specific needs, we must adapt the use of different technologies:

• Physical disability: These are students with motor, visual or hearing problems. Therefore, in this case, the use of devices that will allow them to interact with their environment and access information, such as braille reading instruments or chin mice, is very useful. In addition, there are many digital games that will facilitate the integration of these students.
• Mental disability: Students have difficulties expressing their ideas and opinions, and often also attention deficit. Although devices like the GoTalk9+ exist to facilitate communication, they may not be affordable for everyone. That is why the digital games included in the DIGITAL-ECEC project can be a good option to work on these functionalities.
• Intellectual disability: It is in this case where we usually find the greatest heterogeneity among students, so it is difficult to define the appropriate tools. The use of these digital games is usually very beneficial since we can adapt them to the specific needs of each child, as well as their ease of use and being so intuitive.