Engineers and therapists can work together to create online video games that might be useful therapy tools for people with autism.
To date there have been few studies of online video games as therapy. This review article describes the use of video game therapy to help people with autism. The paper begins with a review of the history of video games (1970s - 1980s). The authors believe that online society games may be very useful for people with autism. In some cases video games may be as helpful as a therapist.
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Better and better
Dec 27, 2006 by AnonymousAnd just like that, Christmas is over.
It goes so fast every year; faster and faster as with each passing year. And every year, my husband and I tell each other that next year will be easier or better. Actually, this year wasn’t so bad, and by “bad” I mean exhausting and sometimes frustrating. It’s always hard on the kids with the schedule change and all the visiting with family. This year it was a triple-whammy; Saturday was Thomas’ birthday party, Sunday was Christmas Eve and Monday was Christmas Day. All three days involved lots of people and presents.
Thomas’ birthday party started a little rocky. He injured himself (accidentally) just as our first guests were arriving and didn’t come out of his room again until about an hour later as my sister gave him a piggy-back ride into the living room. After that, he was fairly social. This was the first year that he opened presents (actually ripped the paper off) and blew out his candles all by himself! Puckering his lips and blowing is a new skill that he has only just acquired, so we were very excited.
Christmas Eve went well at my mother-in-law’s house. The kids were really good but started to lose interest when we opened presents because we all take turns opening one at a time. When it was their turn, we kept having to go track them down and make them sit. We had planned to make it an early night but ended up getting home around 9 p.m. Bedtime has been rough for Thomas since last Saturday. He has been going in his room and laying down at 8:30 p.m. but ends up getting up and making racket in there until almost 10:00. He was awake on Christmas until midnight.
Christmas went really well mostly because my parents got Thomas a car track which we put together at their house and took to my uncle’s. Thomas really liked playing with it and he shared nicely with my young cousins. He really liked my cousin Kelly (who is mildly autistic) and played with her a lot. They took turns jumping down the stairs and Thomas did everything she did. If Kelly jumped up and down three times, so did Thomas. If Kelly drew in the fog on the window, Thomas did, too. Thomas actually hugged her several times unbidden and she hugged him back.
I got to talk to my aunt (Kelly’s mom) at length about how Kelly’s school is going and how she seems to be doing at home. Kelly is only about seven months older than Thomas so we have a lot in common. They live in a different state and it’s interesting to hear about their program. It sounds similar to Thomas’ educational setting; Kelly only goes to school four days every week, but for three hours instead of two and a half. My aunt and uncle are really happy with her progress and she seems to be doing great, so that gives us a lot of hope for Thomas. We think that Thomas is more severe than Kelly but not by very much.
We actually got to enjoy ourselves at my uncle’s house because the kids were well distracted with the car track and even Hayley felt confident enough to explore on her own. There were so many people there trying to get the kids to talk to them and give hugs that Jonathan and I had a chance to sit down and talk to my relatives a bit. We got home around 8 p.m. and like I said, Thomas didn’t fall asleep for hours. I stayed up very late putting toys together and piling up trash in the garage. Thomas has already quieted down in his room for tonight so that’s a good sign that he’s getting back on schedule.
One more week until school starts again! The newness of the toys and games is already starting to wear off so we’re going to venture out to the store tomorrow. We’re running out of food and we need a new phone, so we’ll just be getting a few things to get us by until I can take Hayley to the store while Thomas is at school.
All in all, Thomas was pretty good for the three-day holiday weekend. This year, things were easier, we decided on our way home Christmas night. Jonathan and I have to spend less time dreading the holidays and freaking out about how hard it will be on the kids because all too soon, they won’t be kids anymore. Someday, the mystique of Santa will have worn off and they’ll disappear behind personal video game consoles while we’re visiting relatives. Hayley will tell us that she’d rather spend Christmas with her boyfriend’s family and Thomas will want to get home early because he’s got plans with friends.
You know what? It was a great Christmas. I hope next year is just as good.