Also called reusable learning objects; not really a set technology, but rather a philosophy for how content can be created and deployed. Learning objects refer to self-contained chunks of training content that can be assembled with other learning objects to create courses and curricula, much the same way a child’s Lego blocks are assembled to create all types of structures. Learning objects are designed to be used in multiple training contexts, aim to increase the flexibility of training, and make updating courses much easier to manage.
Published in Chapter:
Distance Learning Rehabilitation of Autistic Reasoning
Boris Galitsky (Birkbeck College University of London, UK)
Copyright: © 2009
|Pages: 7
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-198-8.ch101
Abstract
Recent psychological studies have revealed that autistic children can neither reason properly about mental states of themselves and others, nor understand emotions (Leslie, 1987; Perner 1991; Pilowsky, Yirmiya, Arbelle, & Mozes 2000). Autism is a multifactor disorder that is characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, combined with repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, and affects up to 1% of school-aged children in some geographic areas. In this article we are concerned with the strategies of rehabilitation of reasoning to improve communication skills of children with autism. It has been confirmed by multiple clinical studies that the properly timed treatment is essential for the autistic patient to increase the chance for recovery. An early behavioral intervention is highly beneficial for autistic children (Green, 1996; Jensen & Sinclair, 2002; Rogers, 1998). There is an opinion with increasing support by multiple researchers that intensive behavioral intervention (that can be stimulated in distance learning) may result in a dramatic improvement of autistic reasoning (McEachin, Smith, & Lovaas, 1993). From the viewpoint of autism experts who believe that there is no alternative to behavioral intervention (thought of as the only way to facilitate compensatory learning; see, e.g., Frith, 2001; Howlin, 1998), distance learning may be a useful aid for the education of parents and rehabilitation personnel.