Inclusion through technology for autistic children

Authors

Abstract

Mary Warnock (2005) argues, ‘Inclusion is not a matter of where you are geographically, but of where you feel you belong’ (pp. 41-2). We suggest that for a child to feel, day in, day out, that he or she does not belong, is tantamount to feeling rejected. Baumeister (2005) identifies the consequences of rejection as: demotivated self-regulation (including lashing out, lack of cooperation and selfdefeating behaviours), and numbed emotions. He asks: ‘Given the dramatic short-term effects of rejection, what do you think would be the long-term effects of chronic rejection?’ and ‘Are there some people who won’t mind being rejected or excluded... Or is the aversion to social rejection universal?’ He goes on to argue that ‘modern Western cultures intensify’, while ‘collectivist cultures reduce’, feelings of non-belonging or rejection. In this chapter we link Baumeister’s argument to the issue of educational inclusion and exclusion, and suggest that computers and the Internet have enabled inclusive and collectivist cultures to reemerge in modern Western life, from which children with autistic difficulties can benefit in many ways.

1. Baggs, Amanda M. (2005), ‘On self-advocacy’, www.ballastexistenz.org (accessed August 2005)

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