An examination of media and technology use by school-aged youth with disabilities, with an emphasis on media use at home. Most research on media use by young people with disabilities focuses on the therapeutic and rehabilitative uses of technology; less attention has been paid to their day-to-day encounters with media and technology—the mundane, sometimes pleasurable and sometimes frustrating experiences of “hanging out, messing around, and geeking out.” In this report, Meryl Alper attempts to repair this omission, examining how school-aged children with disabilities use media for social and recreational purposes, with a focus on media use at home. In doing so, she reframes common assumptions about the relationship between young people with disabilities and technology, and she points to areas for further study into the role of new media in the lives of these young people, their parents, and their caregivers. Alper considers the notion of “screen time” and its inapplicability in certain cases—when, for example, an iPad is a child's primary mode of communication. She looks at how young people with various disabilities use media to socialize with caregivers, siblings, and friends, looking more closely at the stereotype of the socially isolated young person with disabilities. And she examines issues encountered by parents in selecting, purchasing, and managing media for youth with such specific disabilities as ADHD and autism. She considers not only children's individual preferences and needs but also external factors, including the limits of existing platforms, content, and age standards.

Educators who work with students with disabilities have the unique challenge of providing comprehensive and quality educational experiences for students who have a wide range of abilities and levels of focus. Pedagogies and educational strategies can be applied across a student population, though they tend to have varied success. Developing adaptive teaching methods that provide quality experiences for students with varied disabilities are necessary to promote success for as many of these students as possible. Special Education Design and Development Tools for School Rehabilitation Professionals is a comprehensive research publication that examines special education practices and provides in-depth evaluations of pedagogical practices for improved educational experiences for students with disabilities. Highlighting a range of topics such as bilingual education, psychometrics, and physical education, this book is ideal for special education teachers, instructors, rehabilitation professionals, academicians, school administrators, instructional designers, curriculum developers, principals, educational software developers, researchers, and students.

Communication technology provides new opportunities for individuals with special needs, facilitating assistive communication, increasing mobility, offering a different model of engagement, and allowing new forms of exploration. However, many people learn about these new technologies haphazardly through teachers, social workers, therapists, and networks of people who have similar needs. Communication Technology for Students in Special Education and Gifted Programs collects ideas about new communication technologies and innovative ways of using them to enhance education for students with exceptionalities. These case studies are based on the experiences and expertise of the teachers, researchers, and other professionals who have used them. By learning about the experiences of professionals with diverse specialties, others will gain information and ideas for how to better serve individuals with special needs across the educational spectrum.

Can the digital revolution help us to tackle existing inequalities, or does it leave some young people even further behind? Is the digital world equally accessible to all young people? What are some of the inherent inequalities within the digital sphere? Do digital tools enable youth organisations, youth workers or state bodies to "reach out" to marginalised young people?Digital methods, tools and platforms, and their unexplored potential in the youth sector, have created much enthusiasm within the youth field. This Youth Knowledge publication explores the intersection between digitalisation and social inclusion of young people, reflecting especially on how digitalisation affects young people's lives, and what the role of youth policy, youth work and youth research can be in this respect.In these 16 chapters, the authors critically examine if and how digitalisation can support the quest for social inclusion, ranging from the exploration of policies, tools and platforms available to young people and youth workers in Europe, supporting young people's access to education and employment opportunities, opening up avenues for digital youth work, providing opportunities for participation for young people with disabilities, channels of integration for migrant communities and young refugees across Europe and support networks for young LGBTI persons.While there is an acknowledgement of the potential for the youth sector to use the possibilities of digitalisation to address social inequality, the authors also emphasise that this does not happen automatically, and more reflection is needed regarding the accessibility of technology and how our digital approaches can be made inclusive for young people from all backgrounds

"In the decades it takes to bring up a child, parents face challenges that are both helped and hindered by the fact that they are living through a period of unprecedented digital innovation. Drawing on extensive research with diverse parents, this book reveals how digital technologies give personal and political parenting struggles a distinctive character, as parents determine how to forge new territory with little precedent, or support. The book reveals the pincer movement of parenting in late modernity. Parents are both more burdened with responsibilities and charged with respecting the agency of their child-leaving much to negotiate in today's "democratic" families. The book charts how parents now often enact authority and values through digital technologies-as "screen time," games, or social media become ways of both being together and setting boundaries. The authors show how digital technologies introduce both valued opportunities and new sources of risk. To light their way, parents comb through the hazy memories of their own childhoods and look toward varied imagined futures. This results in deeply diverse parenting in the present, as parents move between embracing, resisting, or balancing the role of technology in their own and their children's lives. This book moves beyond the panicky headlines to offer a deeply researched exploration of what it means to parent in a period of significant social and technological change. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative research in the United Kingdom, the book offers conclusions and insights relevant to parents, policymakers, educators, and researchers everywhere"--

This companion presents the newest research in this important area, showcasing the huge diversity in children’s relationships with digital media around the globe, and exploring the benefits, challenges, history, and emerging developments in the field. Children are finding novel ways to express their passions and priorities through innovative uses of digital communication tools. This collection investigates and critiques the dynamism of children's lives online with contributions fielding both global and hyper-local issues, and bridging the wide spectrum of connected media created for and by children. From education to children's rights to cyberbullying and youth in challenging circumstances, the interdisciplinary approach ensures a careful, nuanced, multi-dimensional exploration of children’s relationships with digital media. Featuring a highly international range of case studies, perspectives, and socio-cultural contexts, The Routledge Companion to Digital Media and Children is the perfect reference tool for students and researchers of media and communication, family and technology studies, psychology, education, anthropology, and sociology, as well as interested teachers, policy makers, and parents.

Social media is popularly seen as an important media for people with disability in terms of communication, exchange and activism. These sites potentially increase both employment and leisure opportunities for one of the most traditionally isolated groups in society. However, the offline inaccessible environment has, to a certain degree, been replicated online and particularly in social networking sites. Social media is becoming an increasingly important part of our lives yet the impact on people with disabilities has gone largely unscrutinised. Similarly, while social media and disability are often both observed through a focus on the Western, developed and English-speaking world, different global perspectives are often overlooked. This collection explores the opportunities and challenges social media represents for the social inclusion of people with disabilities from a variety of different global perspectives that include Africa, Arabia and Asia along with European, American and Australasian perspectives and experiences.