Board games, video games and autism - your opinion requested
Thursday January 8, 2009
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Recently Matthew has been attracted to board games. I don't know why I didn't make this connection sooner, but it's an excellent way for him to engage in appropriate social-interaction while following a rigid, structured format. He's taken to not just gaming with family and friends, but has even been attending our monthly game nights. This weekend he'll be attending his first convention!If you take a look at the site, you'll see that Mark has taken the time to discuss a variety of board games and their relevance to folks with autism. Included are games like Monopoly, Pokemon, and many video and children's games as well.
My son, Tom, has never cared much for games. It takes quite a bit of cajoling to get him through a single hand of Uno, or a full game of War. And while he'll use the computer, he's one of the few kids with autism I know who could take it or leave it alone. Yet I know that many people with autism find gaming of all sorts to be a huge area of interest.
If you are autistic - or have a child on the autism spectrum - can you share your experience with games and gaming? Are there particular types of games that you prefer? Do you feel that games help people with autism by providing a clear, rule-based system for human interaction?
Share your thoughts!
Comments
Many kids have a hard time with social board games, as well as my son does too. Some but not all kids rely on rigid predictability and social board games just does not provide this. It can take a child a long long time to be able to play a game and cope with the unpredictability of human reactions. Plus some but not all kids have a hard time sharing and often appear to be a ‘poor sport’ when in fact their disability is the result of not being able to share in another’s experience in that manner. Many kids do well on their own topic which includes them winning or doing well, but can extend this to another.
We’ve tried board games, on going as a part of ‘family style’ therapy
it’s one thing we can do at home to encourage less inflexibility. On-line games could be much better since you’re not actually in that physical social setting.
My son is 8 years old and ASD. He likes some board games but he plays them BY HIMSELF. He won’t play well with another person but he will actually play a game and play both sides of the game or take turns with himself. I asked his teacher and she said at school he will play games in the small group, so this appears to be a home issue and one I plan on working on since I think board games with his sister and I could be a lot of fun and a positive experience overall.
Video games – completely a diffent story. The kid is a pro at them, though we limit how long he plays. his favorite games are by far on the Wii. Ironically, on the Wii he has no problems taking turns with other people though he also will set up a multiplayer bowling game and then play each player’s turn.
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Dr Mark Jones
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Based in London.
I think that board games and card games can be a great way to teach skills like taking turns, loosing gracefully, etc. I like to make a lot of games for my students that incorporate their interests. For example, you could make a set of cards for “War” with pictures of airplaes or trains, or whatever the student is interested in. You could make a bingo card with the same type of pictures. For board games, you might try switching the game pieces (that move around the board) with small figurines representing something the student is interested in (animals, trains, etc.).
Nicole Caldwell, M.Ed.
http://www.PositivelyAutism.com/
My two sons that are persons with Aspergers did not do well with board games at first.
I finally started them with UNO…then we added three packs of UNO cards, then we moved up the board game ladder.
You have to meet the young person where they are and then build up their sharing and flexibility muscles.
I initially made the mistake of starting with the family game of “Shark Attack”, harmless fun? one might say that. We sat down as a family and the wind up shark head made its way around the board as we all took turns rolling the dice and moving our fish to safety. One of the fish,I believe it was my game piece, was about to be eaten by the shark, when one of my sons yelled, “Swim, swim away fishes”, he then hurriedly scooped up all of the fish playing pieces and ran to his room to save them.
Needless to say I realized this board game was too advanced to break them into playing board games to learn sharing and flexibility and socialization.
We went from UNO to Chutes and Ladders. Then I started a process that I have shared with many parents of children on the spectrum.
My 9 year old son, Ty, has been diagnosed with ASD, and we believe that he is more on the Asperger’s Syndrome end of the spectrum. Our family loves to play games of many sorts. Ty is quite often the person who asks for us to play. We have found these times of family gaming (whether board or video games) to be a great way to work on appropriate social behaviors. We talk about good sportsmanship, proper tone of voice, thanking eachother for playing whether we win or lose, and sticking out the game to the end. We also often enjoy playing games that Ty creates. He uses his imagination to create games centered around the things he is passionate about. They are quite onesided, and designed for him to win, but I really enjoy him inviting me into his world. Games, whether they are bought from a store or created by one of us, are one of the best times for all of our family to interact in a positive and fun way.
Smiles and no stress to you on this beautiful day!
My 7 year old has above average intelligence but his high functioning autism holds him back from having “fun” when anything is the least bit competetive. So board games are so dificult to play with him. He doesn’t have a “temper” about losing, but if he even begins to slip into last place, even in a simplistic game like Chutes and Ladders, he has a reaction that is emotional, delf deprecating and it causes him true anxiety. When in PE at school, he will yell at others that comie in ahead of him when on their 2 lap “run” – and it is not even a competition! I am not sure what to do. We try to practice and play games, but most of the time he will not even be willing. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I started the Joshua Center for Neurological Disorders in 1996 after my son was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It was my vision to have the doctor, counselor and teacher all in one place. About 6 years ago we started seeing kids with Aspergers. Three years ago I started offering social skills classes and we now have 10 classes, including a Life Skills class for high school kids. I have been developing my own board games because I had such a difficult time finding what I wanted. All the games are designed around their interests and a specific social skill objective, all based on profiles parents complete on our website joshuacenter.com. For instance, so many of the kids love to play wiht Legos (just started a Lego Club) so we have several games that incorporate their love to play with them that also addresses specific social situations. We hope to market them soon, but if anyone is interested please contact me. I will tell you the best game I ever came up with is Yugioh Go Fish. I captured the Yugioh Starter cards on yugioh.com and printed 2 of each on cardstock, laminated and cut. All ages every week beg me to play it. It’s wondeful for eye contact, appropriate conversations and friendship building. Recently when I was giving a presentation for paras at a local school district I mentioned this and one of the paras emailed me she made “fast food” go fish for a student whose special interest was fast food. I have learned so much from the kids. If you meet them with their interests and develop a relationship first, you get so much further. We also sponsor an annual American Camping Association accredited camp at the Rotary Youth Club Camp in Lee’s Summit, MO. It is by far the best program we have designed.
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