New Program for Teenagers with Aspergers in Toronto, Canada

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We're all about connecting teens with Aspergers with potential friends in a safe and engaging environment. Check us out and give us your feedback!

Thanks!

It might be useful to note your location is Toronto, Canada - or do you offer groups outside of that area?

We've been doing game therapy with my son for a significant length of time; we still haven't gotten to a point where he will play a game voluntarily, and he often freezes up outside of his social skills classes or therapy. However, I agree that board games are a terrific tool to teach social skills if you've got a program that's hands-on.

Hey there!

Thanks for the feedback, I've updated the headline.

What are the conditions under which your son is trying to learn? I'd be happy to make recommendations on environmental factors and suggest good games to start with.

This is an excellent idea! We signed my son up for a game club locally run by a local autism group. It is their first time offering such a program, and there have been some pros and cons.

Pros
My son loves it! He is almost 12yo and loves video gaming and video game creation, and this has translated into him liking certain board games and tabletop RPGs, so it suits his interests.
It is a stress free environment to make friends.

Cons
Even though the club was advertised as being only for ASD teens/tweens who can sustain interest in board games for the 1.5 hr sessions, and do not need individual attention while playing a board game with a group (staff ratio is 4:1), at least 1/3 of the kids signed up do not fall into this category. These kids who aren't really developmentally ready for the club are monopolizing the attention of the staff that are present, and are somewhat disruptive to the other kids who are trying to game. It is a pity because they have not been able to do the friendship facilitation support that was supposed to be a part of the club, because they've been too busy running around after the kids who need 1:1 and aren't interested in the games. I think in future they will need to do more careful screening of participants, make prerequisites more clear and/or split into 2 separate groups.

Because of staff limitations the group is only run once every 3 weeks. It would be great to see it being run every 2 weeks or even every week.

Hey Alice!

Thanks for sharing, I'm glad that the group was such a good fit for your son!

I agree that an organization running this type of activity needs to ensure that all participants have an interest in board games. For us, we do a home visit that may include playing one of our more complicated games with the teen on their turf before they come to the group. This way, they're familiar with the moderator and the game being played.

Combine this with the fact that we start with teens aged 14 who tend to be a bit clearer on their interests and our ratio makes much more sense (one trained moderator and one moderator in training for four beginners 2:1). Once teens have attended a session successfully they can move on to bigger and more complicated games that have higher social demands.

Again I agree that once a week is ideal. To create positive momentum in a teens life it has to be regular and it has to be desirable, something to look forward to!

Thanks for participating in the discussion and tell me more about how you think the program your son is enrolled in has helped and how it could be better!

A pre screening visit for potential gamers is a great idea.

I just took a minute to check out your website, and I must say I am really impressed. You are providing a really cool and potentially very useful service in a really thoughtful way. So if you open registration to 14 year olds, that gives you 2 years to franchise to the other major Canadian centres so that we can sign my sons up!

Now you're talking! Thanks for the feedback!

To answer your question: games in and of themselves are exceptionally difficult for my son: he is (was) very rigid and did not like to do anything that involved an unpredictable outcome. Theraputic games with no winning were easier for him, but it's taken a lot of time for him to be able to sit at a table with peers and play anything (it's even harder if the game involves his special interests.)

We still don't play board games at home, because, even though he can tolerate them - they are an exercise in frustration and managing frustration for him. We have other ways to be social together. He's continually enrolled in social skills classes that involve game play.

I've just got a few more questions to help me see the bigger picture:

How old is your son?

What were the games that he was playing?

Does he enjoy video games? Which are his favourite?

What are his special interests?

Have any of the social skills groups been more effective than others and why?

My son is 11. We restrict video games, because he prefers violent ones and then scripts off of them, but at other kids' houses he plays Halo (his current special interest.)

We've tried, in no particular order: chutes and ladders, HHHippos, Sorry, Pokemon Sorry, Monopoly, Batman Monopoly, Don't Break The Ice, Chinese Checkers, checkers, cribbage, clue, Halo boardgame, Transformers chess, Clue FX, Operation, a theraputic game whose name I don't remember, candyland, go fish, don't wake Daddy etc., etc.

He honestly does best with ultra-simple preschool games.

His special interests are: Halo, Batman (he's slowly outgrowing that one,) Weapons and explosions, cute furry animals - particularly puppies, sugar gliders and red pandas, and sometimes engineering.

The social skills class he's in currently that seems to be more effective involves a very strict schedule, a very low ratio of staff-to-kids (1 to 3, I think.) Unfortunately, I don't know exactly what they do, but I'm guessing from the effects that they put the kids in cooperative situations (board games) and then directly coach the kids on how to manage.

The social skills class at school (not so good) involves sitting all the kids down at lunch and pointing out when they make a misstep. I think, and again I'm guessing based on what I hear from my son, that their response is mostly negative "don't do that" rather than helping kids find the right approach.

Thanks for the info!

Here are my thoughts, please use what's useful and reflect on what's not and make a new answer that is useful to you. (then share it! )

I understand about the video games, it's a very difficult thing to navigate. Do you have someone in his life who could make recommendations about which games fit your criteria for "healthy" or "suitable"? If he's playing games like Halo, then he can handle quite a bit of complexity in a game which is a good thing, but it's important to be aware of the content he's exposed to, so in my opinion, it's better to provide an alternative (researched by a gamer and someone you trust) that will allow him to experience games in a healthy way without too much negative input.

As for the games you've tried so far (and I applaud the variety!! !), seemingly they are all family games with relatively simple rules, but abstract goals and connections between rules and action. "Sorry" for example is a great game, it's simple and fun, but when you think about it, what are you actually doing? And what is your imagination doing with that input? If there aren't easy connections between what you're actually doing (rolling a die) and how you're engrossed (setting, depth, fantasy etc.) then it's difficult to be invested in a game.

Ultra simple preschool games will have the least amount of challenge for a player, so it makes sense that he does best with them, but what I'm hearing from his capabilities in video games, is that he can handle much more complexity, not necessarily complexity with other players ( like negotiation, attacking, defending, winning and losing etc.) but complexity in game mechanics. In our groups we start with a game called Dominion, you can read about it here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/36218/dominion . It is a card game in which you build a kingdom (which is your deck) by adding cards like a Smithy, or a Council Room, or Militia to your deck and then using the cards in your kingdom to amass the most land. For his age this is much more engrossing than something like "Sorry", because it's easy to imagine playing the smithy card and producing more for your kingdom to acquire land. If this is something that interests you, I'd be happy to create a video that explains the rules. The great part about this game is that you select the cards that will be in play and when you're just learning you can keep the attack cards out of it so that it's less competitive. You're playing in the same game as other players, but not necessarily with them. With this control, you can gradually add more complex cards that are competitive or aggressive to push the emotional regulation boundaries, I can make suggestions here to if you choose to go with it. There are also no dice, so randomness plays a very small role in the game making regulation easier to manage.

I'd recommend before introducing him to it, that you practice it a few times with friends and really get the hang of it, so you can teach him effectively and like I said, I'd be happy to make you a video so that learning it yourself is easier, just let me know.

It does sound like the first social skills group is better than the second, you are absolutely correct that the best way to replace behaviour is by suggesting a positive alternative that will achieve the desired results of the person, so keep up the fight there!

momsparky did you find the above helpful?

I couldn't help jumping in. My children started playing dominion and carcassone with family and friends a couple of years ago (DS with AS at age 9 and DD an NT at age 10). Love those games!! !

Hi, GoodGame, sorry for the lack of response.

Sounds like Dominion is not dissimilar to games like Magic the Gathering, or Pokemon, which DS has little or no interest in. Part of it is that he struggles with sequencing (video games are complex, but the sequencing is mostly done for you) and part of it is that he just plain isn't interested in participating in imagining things that are outside his special interests. The imagination isn't the problem with the other board games, it's the opposite, it's that the outcomes are unpredictable (Sorry, in particular, is exceptionally difficult because you can be winning one moment, and suddenly lose all your ground.) The more imagination involved, the less he wants to play - and, conversely, when we have a board game that involves his special interest, he doesn't want to play it but wants to play WITH it (he spends a lot of time acting things out with the Halo game pieces.) It's kind of either/or - he can follow the structure of a game, albeit without really enjoying it, or he can role-play in very limited circumstances, but the closer you get to combining the two, the more likely he is to fall apart.

I think we're doing pretty well with the game thing being handled by the social skills class, who just matter-of-factly have them play whatever games they've got. (BTW, I forgot - another one he mentioned liking that he played there was the Angry Birds board game. A good one for the video-game obsessed.)

Hey momsparky,

Again these are only suggestions, you definitely know your child best!

Sequencing is definitely a very big challenge in board games, especially if they're self directed. This is where you come in (or at Good Game, the moderator). You should have an intimate knowledge of the game, so that you can help him with his turn and let him lean on you for the sequencing and allow him to get to the fun part (playing cards and buying new stuff). Dominion has very little randomness to it (shuffling cards and drawing) where as sorry has dice and very intense powers, just like you describe. One minute you're winning and the next your in last place.

It doesn't have to be dominion, that's just what I usually start with. Carcassone was suggested above and is another excellent game. The key is for you to get really good at the rules to the point where you can support him to get to what's fun about the game (i.e.: not sequencing!).

As another thought, know the rules well, but be flexible with them, it's not the most important thing that he understand the whole game right away and play it 'perfectly', what is important is that he has fun with it right away and eventually you build up to playing by all the rules.

I didn't even know there was an Angry Birds board game, I have to check that out! Thanks!!