As an ABA therapist, we encourage parents to limit exposure to electronics, when they become obsessive. Asking your child about other activities they prefer is a good way to start. Then you can say, OK... computer for 15 minutes...and then...(preferred activity... painting, reading, building legos, model cars, board games, etc). You may experience a behavior at first...as is normal when you change an autistic child's routine... but by interjecting other preferred activities, you will slowly wean them off of a constant need to use electronics.

We have successfully limited the amount of time that he plays on the computer through keeping him busy with other activities, school work, outdoor time, and over time he does not have the strong addiction that the did have. When he goes to his moms for the weekend, there are no limits, but now, it seems he likes the activities we are doing, kayaking, basketball, bike riding, movies, ping pong, going on short outings, so it is a win ! It took us several years to get to this point, but we are here and grateful.

AmandaNixon: Electronics give an instant stimuli. It reacts to each movement they make. You can help your daughter become interested in other activities that also give an instantly gratifying response. To build fine motor skills, I suggest play dough, finger painting, light brite, legos, hi-ho cherry-0, finger games (patty-cake, where is thumbkin, etc)...or sing bingo...but use the sign language version of the ABC's.)...very easy to learn... You will have to prompt your child through each move they make, to accomodate for that instant response electronics are programed to give to them. I've found that children love to sing songs...fill in the blanks, when you stop building/singing...and allow them to make the next move/articulate the words. It gives them a sense of control and pride...when you praise them for independently continuing the songs, patterns of play, etc.

We have to use these same techniques from time to time with our 4 year old son. he becomes obsessed with the computer or Ipad so we limit his time on them and then tell him ok, all done. Do you want to do a puzzle or play-doh, etc. I would recommend always having other choices. He will cry and or act out for 3-4 minutes but realizes we are not changing our minds and then he will move onto another activity. It's especially important for us to limit the electronics at least one hour before his bedtime or he gets too wound up.

One thing to keep comfort in is knowing that technology isn't going to go backward. We have three boys that all love being on some sort of electronic devices. A lot of people say its terrible to allow that activity. Our 13 year old (Aspergers) has an ipod that he gets during the school week after he has done at least 20 min of school work if he doesn't have written work he has to read or study over vocab. On the weekends we use computer time as a reward for desired behavior. For the other two (one with HFA) we don't allow anything during the school week. The thing that was tough for us to remember to break it into time chunks. We would set a timer to sound for end time.
They can't argue with a timer. Ultimately remember tat you know your child best and anything you do will be right. Because right for someone else doesn't mean right for you. The cool thing is that "typical" rules dont apply to parents like us! Also most electronics have sylists that work well for supporting fine motor skills.