Interactions of Neurodivergent Children with an Interactive Educational Technology Deployed in Malawi to Promote Foundational Skills

Interactive educational technology (EdTech) can be effective at increasing students’ access to learning, boosting their engagement, and supporting their acquisition of different skills. As some LMICs, such as Malawi, are embedding EdTech within all primary schools, there is a need to explore the use of EdTech by neurodivergent children to comply with SDG 4 that aims to promote lifelong learning for all. This study aimed to explore the interactions of neurodivergent children with an interactive EdTech – onecourse, designed to support the learning of foundational skills – that is being rolled out nationally in Malawi. Eleven neurodivergent children attending a resource centre in Malawi took part in this research. A preliminary descriptive study was conducted with data collected on parental ratings of child strengths and difficulties (SDQ), parental ratings of child functioning (CFM), teacher ratings of child engagement with and attitudes towards learning, and expert video ratings of child interactions with the technology. Results demonstrated that neurodivergent children could interact with the onecourse technology and suggested that interactive EdTech might be particularly suited to children with complex patterns of co-occurring difficulties and/ or invisible disabilities, which might otherwise present difficulties for learning within a standard classroom environment.