Evaluation of autistic children’s education in Oman: the role of eLearning as a major aid to fill the gap.

Abstract

Children with Autism need extra attention and care from the surrounding community, specifically from those who are involved in their education. It is clearly noticed that there are significantly fewer online learning programs and materials for educating children with Autism spectrum disorder. However, the use of technology could help to improve the education process of autistic children; therefore, e-Learning systems are among the desired area of investigation to embed it with autistic children education in Oman. This research aims to understand the current situation of educational support for autistic children in Oman, then to suggest a particular solution to contribute in educating autistic children. Quantitative methods are suitable for this kind of research; therefore, a questionnaire
survey was used to collect the required information. Based on the information obtained from the questionnaire that took place in Oman, and the findings of the literature review, the researchers had identified that impairment in social interaction is considered as one of the main problems faced by autistic children in their daily life, in addition, these children have mild autism, furthermore, It was observed that there is a shortage of schools, centers, and personnel who supposed to be trained to educate autistic children. The finding of this research recommended the design and implementation of a special e-Learning system to support autistic children in Oman, which shall provide them with immediate support under the supervision of the surrounding community despite their background or specialization.