Online Risks in Children with Special Educational Needs: An exploratory study

Background: Children with learning or attention problems are often more isolated and they more frequently experience low self-esteem, anxiety and depression compared to other children. Some recent studies suggest that they also experience more online risks and that they more frequently receive online sexual requests compared to typically development peers. Method: The present study aims to analyze the risky use of the internet in a small group of children with special educational needs: Learning Disabilities (LD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) compared to that of a small group of typically developing peers. Also, the study shows the perception of parents of both groups about their children internet use. Results: Children with special educational needs who participated in this study were found to be more at risk of perpetration or suffering cyber-bullying, being contacted online by strangers and receive requests for intimate pictures. Small differences also emerged in the parental mediation of these children which is more restrictive compared to that of parents of typically developing children. Conclusion: Results, although they cannot be generalized due to the small number of participants, suggest that it may be important to further study and deeply analyze the use of the web of children with special educational needs.