Digital citizenship of children and youth with autism: Developing guidelines and strategies for caregivers and clinicians to support healthy use of screens.
Yael Mayer, Mor Cohen-Eilig, Janice Chan and 3 others
PMID 37615409WHAT IT FOUND
Experts and caregivers agreed on 64 strategies for managing screen time in autistic children, shifting focus from strict time limits to content quality and family values.
They resolved conflicts by adding flexibility, such as using separate devices for learning only if financially feasible.
Key findings
01The final guidelines comprise 64 statements focused on timing, content, and monitoring strategies, rather than just duration limits.
02Disagreements between clinicians and caregivers were resolved by adding qualifiers like 'if feasible' to account for financial barriers to strategies like using separate devices.
03A new section on general principles was added to emphasize digital citizenship, individual family values, and a respectful, collaborative approach to monitoring.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is limited to a Canadian context and may not reflect global or diverse cultural perspectives on screen time. Participants were selected through purposive sampling (experts and advocates), which may introduce bias and exclude less engaged or less resourced families. The sample size is small (30 experts), which limits the generalizability of the consensus. The guidelines themselves have not yet been tested for effectiveness in clinical practice.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The research was funded by the Michael Smith Health Research BC C2 Program and the University of Haifa (for open access).
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat these guidelines as evidence-based interventions that have been proven to improve outcomes. They represent expert consensus on what should be done, not data on what works.