Attitudes towards Education and AI
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The Special Olympics Global Center for Inclusion in Education canvassed
parents’ and teachers’ attitudes toward the role of AI in education.
O N L I N E S U RV E Y W I T H PA R E N T S A N D T E AC H E R S• Fielded by Stratalys Research• Online survey of:• 500 parents of school-aged children diagnosed with an IDD• 200 K-12 teachers• Including 168 who teach children with an IDD now – or have in the past
• Margin of error for parent sample:+/- 4.4%
• Margin of error for teacher sample: +/-6.9%• June 3-10, 2024

This survey was informed by qualitative interviews with principals, special education teachers,
education consultants, and Special Olympics Youth Ambassadors, conducted June 2-13, 2024.

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Summary of findings.
AI is seen as a potentially powerful way to promote more inclusive classrooms and close educational gaps between students
with and without IDD.
Parents and educators are optimistic that AI can be used to help students learn and grow – and are even more optimistic when it
comes to students with IDD.
Parents and teachers see AI’s potential to improve educational outcomes for young people with IDD through adaptive,
personalized learning, and by making information more accessible for students with IDD by summarizing and simplifying it.
Parents and educators are also optimistic that AI can be used to help students – and their coaches – in their extracurricular or
sports activities.
A significant majority of parents (84%) and teachers (79%) believe it is important for young people with IDD to develop AI
skills for their future.
However, only one-third of educators – and two-thirds of parents – believe that developers of AI currently account for theneeds and priorities of students with IDD.
Parents and teacher raise concerns about AI and its impact on students with IDD, including a decrease in human interactionand Sophisticated AI tools only being available for more well-resourced schools, leaving lower-resourced schools behind.

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AI is seen as a potentially powerful way to promote more inclusive classrooms
and close educational gaps between students with and without IDD.
Agree or Disagree: AI has the potential to close
educational gaps between students with andwithout intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Will AI will make education more/lessinclusive?

9%

11%

Moreinclusive,strongly

Agreecompletely

34%

31%

64%
77%
Moreinclusive,
somewhat

74%

53%

Agree
somewhat

43%

47%

43%

23%
17%

4

Less
inclusive

12%

Not sure

11%

Disagree
20%

17%
22%

Not sure

9%

Parents

Teachers

Parents

Teachers

Q. Do you believe that the use of AI technology islikely to make education more inclusive, wherestudents with and without intellectual anddevelopmental disabilities learn and growtogether, or less inclusive where students withand without intellectual and developmental
disabilities learn and grow separately?

Teachers who have used AI
are more likely to think AI canmake education more
inclusive (69%) than those
who haven’t (50%)

Q. ”AI has the potential to close educational gaps
between students with and without intellectualand developmental disabilities such as Down
syndrome, Williams syndrome, Fetal alcohol
syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, or Autism.”

Teachers who have used
AI are more likely to agree(62%) than those who
haven’t (39%)

56%

Parents and educators are optimistic that AI can be used to help students
with IDD learn and grow.
AI can be used to help
students
learn and grow in classrooms

AI can be used to help
students with an IDD
learn and grow

13%

13%

Very
optimistic

Very
optimistic

40%

36%

65%
83%
Somewhat
optimistic

52%

85%
Somewhat
optimistic

43%

12%

18%

Total
pessimistic
Not sure

12%

11%

5%

7%

Parents

Teachers

Parents

Teachers

Teachers are even more
optimistic (72%) that AI canhelp them, as instructors

Q. Are you generally optimistic or
pessimistic that AI can be used to help
teachers improve their students’learning?

Teachers who have used AI
are more optimistic (76%)
than those who haven’t (61%)

Q. Are you generally optimistic or
pessimistic that AI can be used to help
students learn and grow inclassrooms?

559%

49%

29%

Total
pessimistic
Not sure72%

3%

Parents and teachers see AI’s potential to improve educational outcomes foryoung people with IDD through adaptive, personalized learning.
Major positive impact
AI will make information more accessible for students with intellectual anddevelopmental disabilities by summarizing and simplifying it.

Minor positive impact

PARENTS

44%

TEACHERS

44%

79%

AI will give teachers a way to create more tailored educational plansfor children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

46%

AI will provide students with intellectual and developmental
disabilities with a tool to help them write and express themselves.

46%

AI can stand in as a one-on-one tutor for students with intellectual anddevelopmental disabilities, supplementing a teacher's efforts.
AI will ease the administrative burden of teachers and other
instructors so they can spend more time engaging with students.

79%

76%

47%

78%

39%

75%34%

69%

AI will help students with IDD access information, communicate, learn, andparticipate in their classrooms and extracurricular activities.
AI tools will help students with intellectual and developmental
disabilities set, achieve, and follow up on their goals.

76%

46%

AI will help students with intellectual and developmental disabilities learn
alongside their peers in the same classrooms and extracurricular activities.

677%

44%

73%

46%

78%

41%

73%

28%

74%

37%
26%

70%
60%

34%
26%

Q. Now you'll see a list of ways AI might help children with intellectual anddevelopmental disabilities in classrooms and extracurricular activities. For each one,indicate what impact you think it will have on these students.

68%
65%

Parents and educators are optimistic that AI can be used to help students intheir extracurricular or sports activities.
AI can be used to help coaches or otherextracurricular instructors improve theirstudents’ experiences and growth

AI can be used to help students
in their extracurricular or sports activities

10%

Very
optimistic

13%

35%

42%

52%

Very
optimistic

38%

76%
Somewhat
optimistic

80%Somewhat
optimistic

41%

66%
53%

42%

29%
22%

Total
pessimistic17%

Not sure

8%

20%

Parents
Q. Are you generally optimistic orpessimistic that AI can be used tohelp students in their
extracurricular or sports activities?

7Teachers

Total
pessimistic15%

Not sure

6%

Parents
Q. Are you generally optimistic or pessimisticthat AI can be used to help coaches or otherextracurricular instructors improve theirstudents’ experiences and growth?

13%

TeachersA significant majority of parents and teachers believe it is important foryoung people with IDD to develop AI skills for their future.
Among parents and teachers: How important is it to develop orenhance skills in AI for their future personal and professional lives?

33%

Very
Important

52%

79%

84%
46%

Somewhat
ImportantTotal
not important
Not sure

32%

14%
13%
8%

3%

Parents

Teachers

Q. When it comes to young people with intellectual anddevelopmental disabilities, how important is it to develop or enhancetheir skills in AI for their future personal and professional lives?

8However, only one-third of educators believe that developers of AI currently
account for the needs and priorities of students with IDD.
Do developers of AI account for the needs andpriorities of students with IDD?
PARENTSTEACHERS

Not sure
24%
35%
Not sure

Yes

46%
No

11%

20%
NoQ. In your view, do the developers of AI tools account for the needs and prioritiesof students with an intellectual and developmental disability when creating tools?

965%

Yes

Parents and teacher raise concerns about AI and its impact on students withIDD.
Very concerning

Increasing the use of AI in schools might lead to adecrease in human interaction.

Somewhat concerning

29%

PARENTS49%

TEACHERS

Sophisticated AI tools may only be available for more wellresourced schools, leaving lower-resourced schools behind.

30%

Using AI in schools might reduce students' ability to beempathetic.

29%
31%
23%

65%

Students with intellectual and developmental
disabilities might become too reliant on AI.

24%

73%
64%
65%
63%

35%

72%
62%

35%

Using AI in schools might facilitate the collection ofstudent data, threatening their privacy.

73%

26%
25%

AI tools will be more difficult to use for students with anIDD, putting them at an additional disadvantage.

61%
63%

25%
24%

A reliance on AI might rob students with intellectualand developmental disabilities of their unique voice.

60%
67%
27%

59%
32%

AI tools are not designed with much consideration for theneeds or experiences of people with IDD.

1078%

41%

AI models have not been trained on data provided bypeople with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Using AI to help create students' educational plans may reinforce
biases that exist about how young people with IDD learn.

66%

69%

24%
25%
21%

59%
67%
55%

25%

Q. And now you’ll see some concerns people have expressed about using AI to help
students with intellectual and developmental disabilities in schools. For each one, indicate
how concerning you think it is.

63%About Special Olympics Global Center for Inclusion in Education.
The Global Center for Inclusion in Education serves as a hub for global thought leadership for inclusive education through research, policy, andprogramming. Its mission is dedicated to the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in academic, sport, social, and community activities.

11Mission

Hubs of Excellence

ResearchThe Global Center for Inclusion in Education
serves as a hub for global thought leadershipfor inclusive education through research, policy,and programming. Its mission is dedicated tothe inclusion of people with intellectual
disabilities in academic, sport, social, andcommunity activities. More information about
the Center is below.

Argentina, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Romania, andRwanda are supporting the expansion of UCS
programming. Each region expands
partnerships, reach, capacity, and involvementof local educators and youth. These expansion
Programs include Australia, Bermuda,
Dominican Republic, Malawi, Morocco, Nigeria,Paraguay, Poland, Saint Kitts and Nevis,Slovakia, Trinidad and Tobago.

Research is essential to learn how to foster
inclusive mindsets and behaviors, and unlock
the formula for spreading inclusion. Our
research partnerships deepen our knowledge ofthe barriers and bridges to inclusion throughevaluation of inclusive sport, education, andyouth development programming worldwide.