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Asperger's syndrome – Making friends using facetime

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Duration: 1:43

Denise Fuller, describes the difference using Facetime to connect with others has made to the confidence, self-esteem, and overall happiness of her son who has Aspergers syndrome. The student himself explains why it is easier to connect with others in this way.

Student 1: Still have the flowers idea but instead it’s going to have never quartz and cobblestone, your beacons.

Student 2: And how about we put the beacons, the flowers on top of the beacons.

Denise Fuller: He has trouble socialising and belonging to the class and feeling part of the class. Initially we thought oh is this a good idea, will it restrict that. But it’s actually done the opposite and we’ve been really surprised.

Because at home he’s the only child and he actually chats via Facetime to other students in the class, and he’s been having much more in-depth conversations than he would face-to-face, which has just been really great.

Student 1:
It’s easier to talk through Facetime instead of face-to-face. We can share more, even if we’re a long way away. I’ve made better friends using Facetime because when you share more you can be a long time with them, and being more with them you can know more about them.

Denise Fuller:
We’ve been really pleased with the difference it’s made. His motivation, his interest, socially he’s more part of the class and he has things he can relate to now and speak to the other children with.

When we used to come to school he used to just be hesitant coming into class and he’d hold back and he’d never know where to go and who to approach and what to do.

It’s just done so much with his confidence and his self-esteem, so he’s just so much happier.

Tags: Primary, Assistive technologies, Diverse learners, UDL, Inclusion, ASD


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