Promoting Internet Safety and Healthy Relationships: Adapting Digital Citizenship Lessons for Youth with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

• Through a review of literature and curricula and discussions with experts and youth with IDD, the PREP-PYP team identified internet safety—with a focus on healthy online relationships—as a gap in the existing materials available for youth with IDD. The feedback from experts and youth with IDD also guided the adaptations made to the Digital Citizenship lessons, which included revising all individual or paired activities to be group discussions, updating terminology for easier comprehension, and adding flexibility in the timing of lesson delivery.
• During the implementation pilot, facilitators described the adapted lesson plans as thorough, straightforward, and easy to follow and thought the lessons introduced youth to relevant internet safety concepts they need to have safe and healthy relationships online. They found youth actively engaged in the lessons and enjoyed the content.
• Facilitators noted that the lessons might not be suitable for all youth with IDD because the content might be too challenging for students with the lowest functioning. For example, some youth struggled with concepts that the lessons did not explicitly show or state. However, using comprehension checks of key concepts throughout the lesson helped overcome this challenge.
• The youth had an overall positive response to the lessons. They liked the inclusion of videos and scenarios and enjoyed the discussions of key concepts throughout those activities, such as how to tell if an online relationship is risky. The information in the lessons was new for some youth, but others had heard similar information before.
• The differences in understanding the lesson content contributed to several youth suggesting that the lessons are more useful for adolescents who have not previously had education on internet safety or healthy online relationships. However, many youth reported that the lessons were good reminders, even for youth previously exposed to the content.
• Some of the youth stated that the internet safety lessons will change their online behavior. Youth who did not think it would change their behavior said this was because they already know how to stay safe, or they talk with a parent or trusted adult when situations arise.

Adapting the lessons was a multistep collaborative process with Common Sense Education and a special education teacher who served as a consultant. The PREP-PYP team shared annotated lessons with the special education teacher, who piloted the lessons in her classroom and recommended adaptations to better fit the needs of youth with IDD. The team incorporated this feedback into the adapted Digital Citizenship lessons used in the implementation pilot. The pilot of the Digital Citizenship lessons adaptation addressed the following research questions:

1. What were facilitator and youth perceptions on the content of the lessons?
2. What was the extent of youth engagement in the lessons?
3. Do the lesson plans provide clear guidance to facilitators on how to implement the lessons? What could be clarified, expanded, or updated?
4. What modifications are needed before the lessons are finalized for dissemination?

The pilot took place from May through September 2022, with a total of 38 youth across four schools in the northeastern United States. The pilot used a mixed methods design to document how schools implemented the lessons and learn from multiple perspectives. Data sources included an implementation log, classroom observations, facilitator interviews, and youth focus groups, and schools chose whether to conduct each data collection activity virtually or in person. The PREP-PYP team analyzed data collected during the pilot. The team analyzed quantitative data using descriptive summary statistics. Qualitative data were coded and analyzed in NVivo using a codebook the team created from the pilot research questions. The team used the analysis to identify themes about lesson delivery and content and to examine youth engagement in the lessons and youth and facilitators’ perceptions about the content.

Although the PREP-PYP team made some updates to the curriculum after the implementation pilot to be responsive to the feedback, other feedback was incorporated into the section on optional engagement strategies in the lesson plan guidance. These strategies are meant to make the modules as accessible as possible to a range of youth with intellectual disabilities. These include dividing the lessons into smaller segments, reinforcing key concepts and vocabulary throughout activities, using comprehension checks and targeted questions to assess comprehension, and including additional resources and visuals. In addition, although the lessons reinforced content for older students who may have already learned about internet safety concepts, the lessons might be most appropriate for youth who are less experienced with the internet and challenging relationship situations, to prepare them as they start to have an online presence and navigate more complex in-person relationships. Finally, facilitators working with youth who have lower functioning levels might need to tailor the lessons more than they do for other youth. Using the lessons with these youth is feasible, but tailoring the lessons would make the content even more accessible for them.