How to Make Coding Fun and Accessible for Kids with Disabilities
“We need to be much more flexible — in the design of curriculum, in the design of tools, in the design of professional development, in the design of lesson plans. “Coding for all, learning for all”- Anonymous
I feel that Coding is at the heart of the technologies that are integrated into our digital world. It’s how we communicate with computers and build software, apps, websites and video games. Understanding how to work with computer and coding software will be an in-demand skill for employers. However, teaching coding to children is about more than just improving their job prospects. Coding may also teach kids of all abilities and learning styles how to problem-solve, how to be creative and how to collaborate, among other skills.
But educators and parents should be aware of the barriers to inclusion that can exist when teaching computer science to neurodiverse children and those with learning disabilities and differences, as well as strategies and tools that can make learning coding more accessible to all students.
Can kids with ADHD learn coding? “The answer is definitely yes.” I am not the only one who says it but also several prominent doctors and therapists too.
Accessibility Benefits for All Students
More than 100 organizations have signed the accessibility pledge from CSforALL, a nonprofit and initiative to make high-quality computer science an integral part of K-12 education for all students in the United States. The pledge calls for commitments on such steps as putting captions on videos, ensuring compatibility with screen readers for visually impaired students and making sure all online content complies with accessibility standards.
PBS KIDS provides an example of accessibility design in action. The company included students with disabilities in its extensive user testing for its digital game Cyberchase Railway HeroExternal link:open_in_new. As a result, the game allows each player to set their own color contrast levels and font size, customize their closed captioning and adjust the audio settings, to reduce background noise to avoid sensory overload, for example.
“Whenever you solve an accessibility challenge, you end up solving other problems you didn’t even know you had.”
Many people in the field have already discovered an important fact: Designing for accessibility doesn’t just help students with disabilities; it can also have big benefits for all students, according to a report from Education Week.
“Being able to hear a plain-language reader is just as much a game changer for sighted kids as it is for blind kids,” Emmanuel Schanzer, founder and co-director of Bootstrap, a research project based out of Brown University that develops computer-science curricula for K-12 classes. “This comes up over and over: Whenever you end up solving an accessibility challenge, you end up solving other problems you didn’t even know you had.”
The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework
One way to address the variability of student learning profiles and the barriers to accessibility is through the Universal Design for Learning framework. UDL aims to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people, with and without disabilities, based on scientific insights into how people learn. UDL goes beyond access to build in support and challenge.
The three principles at a glance:
- Representation. Show the information in different ways.
- Action and expression. Allow students to approach learning tasks and demonstrate what they know in different ways.
- Engagement. Offer options that engage students and keep their interest.
According to the website of CAST, the nonprofit education research and development organization that created the UDL framework, “UDL aims to change the design of the environment rather than to change the learner. When environments are intentionally designed to reduce barriers, all learners can engage in rigorous, meaningful learning.”
4 Skills That Neurodiverse Students Can Learn From Coding
Teaching young people how to code offers additional benefits beyond creating cool tech applications and learning marketable job skills. For neurodiverse students in particular, it can hone important social skills and empower them to become more confident.
1. Collaboration
In Crasnow’s school, teaching students computer programming leads to robotics. Students form teams to design, build and program a robot to perform a specific task. This teaches students who may tend to prefer working individually the skills to collaborate with others, he told District Administration (DA). “The three of them have to talk to each other — you can’t do the wiring without knowing the design and you can’t program without knowing what the robot’s going to do,” Crasnow said.
2. Perseverance
Coding and debugging software can be frustrating and confusing at times. When this occurs, teachers should resist the urge to give students with special needs the answers and instead encourage them to problem-solve on their own, such as by doing an internet search, Leigh Ann DeLyser, executive director of CSforALL, told DA.
“There’s a tendency to want to help students with disabilities leapfrog over obstacles. But when they encounter difficulties and the challenge of solving the puzzle is part of the learning, building a step over an obstacle doesn’t necessarily benefit students.”
3. Problem-Solving
Coding requires students to follow a methodical problem-solving process to reach their end goal. They must break down large, complex problems into smaller, workable steps. Research has shown that children as young as kindergarten find learning computer programming engagingExternal link:open_in_new and enjoyable, and it gives them “opportunities to develop mathematical concepts, problem-solving and social skills.”
4. Self-Confidence
District Administration also reports that the trial-and-error process of coding can make students better able to ask for and offer help in the classroom and overcome mistakes, increasing their self-confidence.
“When my code works, I know that it’s because I figured out the problem and found a solution. Coding gave me the confidence to know that I can find a solution to any problem, whether it is a bug in a final project, a complex chemistry problem or how to plan a mission to Mars.”
Resources to Teach Children How to Code
Here is an alphabetical list of some free and fee-based tools, classes and resources for parents and educators interested in teaching coding to children. This 3D, block-based programming environment is focused on fundamental programming concepts, creating animations and storytelling.
- Bootstrap Hour of Code: Introduction to ProgrammingExternal link:open_in_new: In this self-paced lesson, students explore simple function composition and order of operations and build on that knowledge to create simple computer graphics.
- Code studio: A free coding tool and courses for students age 4 and older, from the nonprofit Code.org.
- CoderDojo: A global volunteer-led community of free programming workshops for kids 7 to 17.
- CSforALL Curriculum Directory:Searchable by concept (e.g. algorithms and programming) and grade level, this directory offers a wide range of robust curricula, some free and some requiring a fee. Topics include Vidcode Creative Coding, Intro to Javascript and Mobile Apps.
- CS Unplugged: Free material that teaches computer science concepts without a computer, through engaging games and puzzles that use cards, string, crayons and more.
- Digital Promise: An organization that works with education leaders, researchers and technology developers including Adobe, Amazon Business and Google to improve learning opportunities for all and close the digital learning gap. Resources include a blog, free webinars for teachersExternal link:open_in_new and a K-12 STEM Activity CenterExternal link:open_in_new.
- Puzzlets: A STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) tool that combines hands-on play with interactive games that teach students basic programming, math and art skills.
Thereby, At the heart of teaching students with disabilities to code lies interest and resources. Interest among these students is necessary to build the foundation to which they can learn and grow. In other words, if the students do not have an interest in computers or technology in general, it would be hard to get them started. On the other side of the equation is resources. This encompasses everything from the learning tools, coding courses, and programs to technologies designed for students with disabilities.
Today, most programming resources, from kids’ coding classes to videos and tutorials, have been formatted to ensure compatibility with screen readers for visually impaired students. Such courses are also gamified and highly customizable to allow all the neurodiverse students to benefit and learn with little to no barriers
