Disabled children need more support to ensure they are using the internet safely, new research has suggested.
The University of East Anglia’s research shows that extra support from professionals such as teachers, youth workers and speech and language therapists does not always happen when learning, playing and socialising on the internet.
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Lead author Dr Simon P Hammond, of UEA’s School of Education and Lifelong Learning, explained: "Educators spend a disproportionate amount of time dealing with unforeseen safeguarding events and/or sudden disciplinary issues, a key contributor to high and stressful workloads."
Government legislation of the online safety bill is due to come into effect later this year, which will put a duty of care on tech firms to protect under-18s.
Dr Jeanette D'Arcy, of the University of Liverpool’s communications and media department, said: "Children with disabilities receive less supported learning opportunities to develop digital resilience in the face of online risks.
"In short, professional communities are providing the least support to the group most in need."
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Charley Little-Smith, from Norwich, has a six-year-old autistic son.
"He's at the age where he loves to watch YouTube kids for episodes of his favourite shows and watching people streaming games," said the 33-year-old.
"He also enjoys playing games like Minecraft and Roblox. Being autistic means he mimics a lot of the audio he hears - it's important that he is supervised and has strict parental controls on the content he watches, not only to prevent him being exposed to inappropriate material but also because whatever he hears then routinely becomes part of his own speech.
"He also would not be able to recognise if material might be inappropriate."
He currently doesn’t use anything with chat capabilities, but Charley knows when that time comes he will need extremely close monitoring.
She said: "He is potentially very vulnerable to being scammed, bullied or taken advantage of."
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