A NEW DEAL? USING COMPUTERS TO TEACH CHILDREN WITH COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES

Abstract

In the very early days of teaching machines, B. F. Skinner was once asked by a somewhat hostile group of colleagues how he visualized them being used in school. "Well," he said, with a bit of gleam in his eye, "the bell rings for the end of recess, a boy comes running into the empty classroom, hurls his jacket into the corner, and sits down eagerly to the machine ... " Skinner was dramatically confident of the humane effect of his schedules of reinforeement. Howe has the same confidence in the computer as teacher, for many good reasons, and especially in its potential to unlock the mental processes of children with specific difficulties in communication. He illustrates some of the potential and fascination of computers that use special devices to offer the right kinds of feedback to a curious child. He sets out in careful steps the necessary theory of mental representations that has enabled him to focus on just those tasks, like writing a simple programfor the computer itself, that persuade children with mild mental handicaps, maladjusted and even autistic children, into flower as communicators.