Use of mobile technology in the development of cognitive skills of high school students with special educational needs

Mobile technology can help personalize instruction and enhance generic and specific learning skills for students with special educational needs. This study examines the effects of a technology intervention strategy on the attention/concentration and spelling skills. Participants were students with permanent and temporary educational needs attending secondary schools in Chile. A pretest-posttest experimental design with a control group was adopted. 73 students participated, under three conditions: a) control group, with a printed guide-based strategy and without the use of technology, b) an experimental group with a computer-based strategy, and c) an experimental group with an iPad-based strategy. Analysis of Variance was used to compare the means of the three groups. The results show that the iPad-based strategy obtained significant differences compared to the other conditions. It is concluded that iPad mobile technology can improve both the generic attention/concentration skills and the specific spelling skills in students with special educational needs.