Youth and media in special needs education: Dutch professionals’ perspectives and experiences in practice

Abstract

It is known that children with special educational needs (i.e., with physical and or cognitive disabilities, and or conduct or social-emotional disorders) are more at risk for problems resulting from media use at home. Yet, how professionals in special needs education (SNE) deal with these media related problems by their students at school has received little attention. To fill this gap 19 professionals affiliated to 3 primary SNE-schools in the Netherlands were interviewed. At these SNE-schools that addressed children between 4 to 12 years old requiring additional support and adaptive pedagogical methods we explored (a) which online risks and benefits professionals encounter from the kind of media their students use, (b) which children are deemed most vulnerable, (c) how professionals deal with students’ online problems when they manifest themselves in school, and (d) what professionals need to address these situations effectively. Qualitative content analysis using Boeije’s approach of open, axial, and selective coding was applied to the interview data and revealed that, in accordance with former research, the interviewed professionals mainly saw problems like compulsive gaming, watching and playing (too) violent movies and games, and online arguing and bullying. To a lesser extent their SNE-students also received or sent sexual messages or materials. These problems were typically associated with the students’ gender, social-emotional or cognitive limitations and conduct disorders. Moreover, professionals also mentioned that the absence of consistent and involved parenting at home highly contributed to children’s problematic media use. Professionals found it difficult to solve or prevent problem-related media use that often had started outside of the school. They lacked knowledge about children and media-effects, appropriate media-literacy lessons, structural support from the schools’ management, and knowledge how to involve parents. A customized approach that goes beyond the school borders apparently is needed.

Keywords

• special needs education
• cyberbullying
• game addiction
• media guidance
• media-literacy