The Effectiveness of Instructional E-Learning Environment Based on Avatar as an Early Intervention for Developing Life skills and Independence of Autistic Students

Autism is one of the Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) that are considered one of the most confusing childhood problems. Given that they include deficiencies in aspects of psychological performance during childhood, these deficiencies include attention, perception, learning, language, social skills and communication with others in the surrounding environment, in addition to motor skills. This coincided with the spread of the new Corona virus, Covid-19, which included lockdown imposed by many countries around the world, which led to the school closure in various educational institutions, which led to the need for adopting e-learning strategies. One of the most prominent E-learning strategies is the Avatar. From this standpoint, the current study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of an educational environment based on Avatar technology as a program for early intervention in enhancing life skills and independence skills of children with autism, and the extent of the continuing effectiveness of the therapeutic training program designed according to the proposed E-learning technique after application and in the follow-up phase. The sample of the current study included (17) children with autism in Jahra region in the north of the State of Kuwait, whose ages range from (4-10) years with a mean age of (8.4) years. It was divided into two groups, one of them is the experimental and consisting of (8) children, and a control group of (9) children. The study adopted the quasi-experimental approach as a research design. The study tools included the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test, the Autism Symptoms Scale, the Life Skills and Independence Assessment Scale, which the researcher prepared in addition to the treatment program based on Avatar. The results of the study showed the effectiveness of an educational E-learning environment based on the Avatar technology as an early intervention on developing life skills and independence for children with autism. From this standpoint, the current study recommends, the importance of using Avatar technology with children with autism in behavior modification and in developing social skills, social interaction, emotional and emotional skills.