Teacher Use of Instructional Technology in a Special Education School for Students with Intellectual Disabilities: A Case Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate use of Instructional Technology (IT) by special education teachers in a school for students with moderate to severe intellectual disability (ID). Research questions were a) Which IT do teachers use during class time? b) What are the ways of providing IT? (c) What are the problems that teachers encountered while using IT? (d) What are the results and effects of the encountered problems? (e) Is there any use of assistive technology (AT) devices? This is a case study based on collecting and analyzing qualitative data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine teachers; students with moderate to severe ID in the first, second, fifth, and seventh grade were observed in social studies lessons, as were eight teachers of those students. The study showed that use of IT is limited in a special school for children with ID and this situation is affecting teachers and students in a negative way. Also, use of AT is lacking