Keynote speaker - Professor Kevin Durkin: Interactive technologies and developmental disorders: Differences, needs and rewards Interactive Technologies and Games (ITAG) Conference 2015 Health, Disability and EducationDates: Thursday 22 October 2015 - Friday 23 October 2015 Location: The Council House, NG1 2DT

1. Interactive technologies and
developmental disorders:
Differences, needs and rewards
Kevin Durkin
University of Strathclyde

2. This is an edited version
of the presentation
made at the conference.
Kevin Durkin
University of Strathclyde

3. 3
One response to
interactive media …
• How can we stop this?
• How can we demonstrate that it’s harmful?

4. ‘My fear is that these
technologies are infantilising
the brain into the state of
small children who are
attracted by buzzing noises
and bright lights, who have a
small attention span and who
live for the moment.’

5. More evidence?:
"I point to the increase in autism
and I point to internet use. That's all.
… there are trends out there
that we must think about.”
(Greenfield, 2011, Mail Online)

6. ‘Creativity, imagination, self-esteem
and even our basic ability to process
information could be sacrificed
at the virtual altar of what is known
as "hyperconnectivity”’
(Greenfield, BBC, 2013)

7. "If you play computer games
to the exclusion of other things
this will create a new environment
that will have new effects
... every hour you spend in front of
a screen is an hour not spent
climbing a tree or giving
someone a hug."

8. Are self-esteem, cognition, hugs and tree climbing
sacrificed at the altar of interactive media?
• 1000+ US 16-year-olds
• Tested as part of longitudinal Michigan Study of
Adolescent Transitions
• Measured on computer game play and
miscellaneous aspects of social adjustment,
wellbeing, educational performance
• Durkin and Barber (2002)

9. Self esteem
4.3
4.35
4.4
4.45
4.5
4.55
4.6
4.65
4.7
Never Low High
Never
Low
High
Self esteem
not
sacrificed!

10. Self concept: Intelligence
4.75
4.8
4.85
4.9
4.95
5
5.05
5.1
5.15
5.2
5.25
5.3
Never Low High
Play freq

11. Self concept: Computer skills
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
Never Low High
Play freq

12. GPA
2.4
2.45
2.5
2.55
2.6
2.65
2.7
2.75
2.8
Never Low High
Play freq
Brains not
rotted!

13. Family closeness
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.9
5
5.1
Never Low High
Play freq
Hugs
possible!

14. Activities/clubs involvement
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
Never Low High
Play freq
Trees
climbed!

15. • Not claiming that game play CAUSED positive
outcomes

16. Game play is one interesting,
challenging and rewarding (inter)activity
that well adjusted young people
may elect to immerse themselves in …
… for part of their time

17. • What interactive media do young people with
developmental disorders use?
• Do their uses differ?
• Should we stop them?
• Or support them?

18. • ASD –Autistic Spectrum Disorders
• ADHD – Attention Hyperactivity Disorder
• SLI – Specific Language Impairment
18

19. Are we all autistic when we play
videogames
or enter other digital bubbles?
• No
• Only people with autism are autistic when
playing videogames

20. Children with ASD, ADHD and TD
play VGs in different ways
• Study of mouse clicking in VGs
• Children with ASD tended to be more cautious
in initiating moves, more likely to inhibit
prepotent responses, more likely to repeat
moves
• Children with ADHD less likely to inhibit
responses
• (Veenstra et al., 2012)

21. A comparison of ADHD children in the
‘real world’ versus the digital world
• Participants:
• Boys 6 to 12 years
• 57 with ADHD
• 57 typically developing (TD)
• Matched on age and IQ
• (Lawrence et al., 2002, 2004)

22. Method
• Participants visited the Perth Zoo

23. Method
• Instructed to follow two routes:
• A simple route (short, past trees)
• A complex route (longer, past exciting displays
– Reptile House, Penguins, Crocodile House)

24. • On a separate occasion, participants played
two videogames
• A simple game: Point Blank (shooting)
• A complex game: Crash Bandicoot

25. Measures
• ZOO
• Behavioural inhibition (deviations from instructed
route)
• Motor control (time to complete course)
• VIDEOGAMES
• N of correct shots fired (Point Blank)
• Behavioural inhibition (Crash Bandicoot)
• - pauses
• - motor control, working memory

26. Results
• ZOO: Behavioural
inhibition
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Simple Complex
ADHD
Typical
Deviations from
instructed route

27. Results
• VIDEOGAMES
• Point Blank:
• No difference in mean
% of correct shots
• 64% ADHD
• 66% Typical
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Simple
ADHD
Typical

28. Results
• VIDEOGAMES
• Crash Bandicoot:
• No difference on
behavioural inhibition
(pauses)
• ADHD group slightly
poorer on Motor Control
and Verbal Working
Memory

29. Implications
• In the ‘real’ world, children with ADHD have
problems with:
• Inhibiting behaviours
• Interrupting their ongoing behaviour to
change course when needed
• Dealing with distractions

30. • In the video game world,
children with ADHD can inhibit behaviours,
providing the game is not too complex
(distracting)
• Video games are not a cure for ADHD
• But they may provide a context for helping these
children to develop skills

31. Specific Language Impairment
• Difficulties in expressive/ receptive language
• - in the context of IQ in normal range and no
hearing impairment
•

32. Specific Language Impairment (SLI)
• Approximately 7% of children present with SLI
at school entry
• One of the most common childhood
impairments, yet markedly under-represented
in research into neurodevelopmental
disorders (Bishop, 2010)

33. Young people with SLI
at risk of poorer
educational, behavioural
and social outcomes

34. Interpersonal communication
within digital bubbles
• Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)
reduces the pressures of face-to-face
interaction and the threat of negative
evaluation

35. • On this basis, adolescents with SLI could be
expected to be motivated to use home
computers for interpersonal purposes

36. • Compared the uses of home computers by
adolescents with and without SLI
• Participants completed questionnaires and
diaries about their uses of new media
• Measured frequency of use and perceived
ease of use with respect to both interpersonal
and educational purposes
• (Durkin, Conti-Ramsden et al., 2009)

37. • Access to home computers was essentially identical
between groups
• Both groups showed preference for non-educational
uses of home computers

38. • Interpersonal computer use very similar
across groups
• Virtually all adolescents with SLI regularly
engaged in interpersonal uses of new media
• Nonetheless, use was somewhat restricted for
adolescents with SLI …

39. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Email MSN Buy Mus Games
TD
SLI
Buy = Purchase items via web
Mus = Download music
Games = Play games (offline)
Uses of home computer for non-educational purposes
** = p <.001
* = p <.05

40. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Email MSN Buy Mus Games
TD
SLI
Buy = Purchase items via web
Mus = Download music
Games = Play games (offline)
Uses of home computer for non-educational purposes
** = p <.001
* = p <.05

41. SLI, language and computer use
• Adolescents with SLI group scored lower on a
measure of perceived ease of use of computers
• Participants with SLI reported:
• - information provided was too technical
• - involved the use of too much text
• - was difficult to understand
• - hard to read, write and spell when using the
applications

42. SLI, language and computer use
• Adolescents with SLI reported higher levels of computer
anxiety than did typically developing peers
• Conti-Ramsden, Durkin and Walker (2010)

43. SLI and mobile use
• Adolescents with SLI are motivated users of mobile
technology
• They phone, they text
• But they do not text as often as TD peers
• They compose shorter texts
• They do not use as many textisms
• Predictor of textism use?:
• Severity of language impairment
(more impaired, less textisms)
• (Conti-Ramsden et al., 2010; Durkin et al., 2011)
43

44. • A significantly larger proportion of adolescents
with SLI did not use educational applications
in a typical week (nearly one third for SLI
versus only 8% for TD)

45. Adolescents with SLI used a number of
online and offline educational
applications less often than did
TD youth
(e.g., downloading educational materials,
online libraries)

46. Is sustained computer use beneficial
for adolescents with SLI?

47. Results
• Frequency of leisure uses was not a significant
predictor of exams at 17 or educational
progress at 19 for either group
• Frequency of educational uses did predict
exam scores at 17 years (SLI and TD) and level
of educational progress at 19 years (SLI only)

48. Why?
Persistence with challenging
tasks = hard work
Working with educational
computer applications
likely to be associated with
readiness to study, per se
Transferable skills?
[Leisure, not sure,
Education, yes]

49. 49
Conclusions
• Interactive media are not menaces that shape
children’s lives, and that must be stopped
• Children’s characteristics and needs influence
how they use interactive media
• What looks playful may serve important purposes
for/ pose motivating challenges to the developing
individual(s) concerned
• Much remains to be done to ensure that all
young people, including those with
developmental disorders, have opportunities to
find the best interactive media

50. Thank you
Any questions?

51. 51
Acknowledgements
• ADHD study formed part of Vivienne Lawrence’s
PhD, University of Western Australia. Other
collaborators: Steve Houghton, Rosemary
Tannock, Graham Douglas, Ken Whiting (UWA)
• Aspies and mobiles work conducted with Andrew
Whitehouse, Emma Jaquet, Kathy Ziatas (UWA),
Allan Walker (Strathclyde)
• SLI work conducted in collaboration with Gina
Conti-Ramsden, University of Manchester, Allan
Walker (Strathclyde)

52. 52
Bibliography
• Bishop, D. V. (2010). Which neurodevelopmental disorders get researched and why. PLoS One, 5(11), e15112.
• Conti-Ramsden, G., Durkin, K., & Simkin, Z. (2010). Language and social factors in the use of cell phone technology by adolescents with
and without specific language impairment (SLI). Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 53, 196-208.
• Conti-Ramsden, G., Durkin, K., & Walker, A. J. (2010). Computer anxiety: A comparison of adolescents with and without a history of
specific language impairment (SLI). Computers & Education, 54, 136-145.
• Durkin, K. (2010). Videogames and young people with developmental disorders. Review of General Psychology, 14, 122 - 140.
• Durkin, K., & Barber, B. (2002). Not so doomed: Computer game play and positive adolescent development. Journal of Applied
Developmental Psychology, 23, 373-392.
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specific language impairment. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 27, 49-57.
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function performance on tasks in videogame play and on a visit to the zoo. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30, 447-462.
• Veenstra, B., van Geert, P. L., & van der Meulen, B. F. (2012). Distinguishing and improving mouse behavior with educational computer
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