Technology competence for children with Down Syndrome: An approach from the implementation of a digital educational resource

Abstract

Technology education in elementary school allows students to acquire skills that enable them to relate to an environment equipped with artifacts for daily use; when a child with intellectual disabilities arrives to the regular classroom through the inclusion program, the institution must make the necessary adaptations according to individual characteristics so that he can achieve success in his school process. Within this context, a digital educational resource (DER) supports learning and the development of skills in this population because it contains audiovisual elements and facilitates the repetition of information. This article describes the contribution of a DER in the development of technology competence for two children with Down syndrome (DS), who attend second grade of primary school in an official school in Bogota, Colombia, through a qualitative, exploratory, case study research approach. The results indicate that DS children develop the ability to recognize and use appropriately the technological devices they find in their daily environment, with the DER, where aspects such as learning, communication, memory, motivation, interaction, autonomy and safety are involved.