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Computer usage by young individuals with down syndrome: an exploratory study

Published: 13 October 2008 Publication History

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the results of an online survey that investigates how children and young adults with Down syndrome use computers and computer-related devices. The survey responses cover 561 individuals with Down syndrome between the age of four to 21. The survey results suggest that the majority of the children and young adults with Down syndrome can use the mouse to interact with computers, which requires spatial, cognitive, and fine motor skills that were previously believed to be quite challenging for individuals with Down syndrome. The results show great difficulty in text entry using keyboards. Young individuals with Down syndrome are using a variety of computer applications and computer related devices, and computers and computer-related devices play important roles in the life of individuals with Down syndrome. There appears to be great potential in computer-related education and training to broaden existing career opportunities for individuals with Down syndrome, and there needs to be further research on this topic.

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      cover image ACM Conferences
      Assets '08: Proceedings of the 10th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility
      October 2008
      332 pages
      ISBN:9781595939760
      DOI:10.1145/1414471
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      Published: 13 October 2008

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      Author Tags

      1. computer use
      2. down syndrome
      3. human factors
      4. human-computer interaction
      5. kids
      6. usability
      7. young individuals

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      • (2024)"It Is Easy Using My Apps:" Understanding Technology Use and Needs of Adults with Down SyndromeProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642950(1-17)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
      • (2024)The home literacy environment of individuals with Down Syndrome. A comparative study within a bilingual contextInternational Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism10.1080/13670050.2024.2439277(1-16)Online publication date: 12-Dec-2024
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