[games_access] games for autistic preschoolers

[Michelle Hinn]

On another list, this information was just posted earlier today and I
thought that I would pass it along just as an FYI -- it's about games
for children in the autistic spectrum:

Message One:
Sooinn Lee siyanga at gmail.com said:

1. Currently parents are talking about 'apps' but not 'games' . Many
of learning apps has a format of 'game'. Check those sites.
- Bridging apps (http://bridgingapps.org), especially their Insigno tool.
- Technology in (spe) education (http://techinspecialed.com)
- New york time article, "Finding good games for children with Autism"
  (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DE3D81030F932A35751C1A9679D8B63)

2. Our team develops learning games for children with special needs.
Please check our former project, 'Project Injini' -
http://www.injini.net (been mentioned in above NYtimes article)

This is my article for Games for health (2011)
http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/g4h.2012.1016
and draft for Autism Society Conference (2011)
https://asa.confex.com/asa/2011/webprogram/Session5682.html

Please feel free to contact me if you need further information.

Message Two:
Kurt Squire kurt.squire at gmail.com said:
our "tenacity" game is trying to reach this demographic.
http://www.news.wisc.edu/releases/17368

On Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 7:12 PM, Ian Hamilton <i_h at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Yep sorry that's what I get for trying to mail from my phone! As it's in the
> group now though, the games I was talking about are the Something Special
> ones, which I mailed about back when the first batch launched around a year
> ago.
>
> If you're not in the UK you're probably not familiar with Something Special,
> if you are in the UK it's hard not to have come across Mr Tumble. SS is a TV
> show produced by CBeebies (the BBC's channel for preschool children)
> designed with the abilities and developmental goals of PMLD (profound and
> multiple learning disabilities) kids in mind, particularly those with
> communication difficulties, and uses Makaton throughout to encourage
> language development in non-verbal kids
> (http://www.makaton.org/aboutMakaton/), allowing them to meaningfully
> communicate with their families for the first time.
>
> Despite the niche focus is it also designed to be as appealing as possible
> to all children, a properly inclusive proposition, and it works - Justin/Mr
> Tumble are amongst the most recognised and loved children's characters in
> the UK. So that's what the games are based on too, but with some additional
> focus on motor impairment as it's such a common combination.
>
> Some of the young kids we worked with were really low functioning autistic,
> non verbal and not much comprehension at all of what was going on around
> them, at the same time as having almost no voluntary motor ability. So
> fairly challenging to make something that was just as enjoyable for them as
> for all other children, but successfully achieved through basing them on
> Dimitris Gramenos' universally accessible game design principles.
>
> UAGD principles aside the other key thing was thorough play-testing with
> profoundly disabled preschoolers, which was pretty challenging in itself..
> standard practice in other industries to test with your actual target
> audience but pretty rare in the games industry, Valve being a notable
> exception (the reason their closed captioning system is good is because they
> actively recruit playtesters with hearing impairments).
>
> A bit more information about the research & testing side of it is available
> here:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XxFGXJxA9Q
>
> The Aardman in the video are the same Aardman of Wallace and Grommit fame.
> When they're not making plasticine movies they also happen to be one of the
> leaders in switch accessible gaming.
>
> Since launch they've had an additional mobile/tablet game released last
> month and another game now in production, all with some quite amazing
> results with the most profoundly disabled children, low functioning autism
> in particular.
>
> As well as working well for them (lots of really incredible stories about
> how the games have changed the lives of the kids and their families) they're
> also some of the most popular content that CBeebies have ever produced, with
> stats comparable to AAA console titles.
>
> Really concrete proof of how well Dimitris' principles work for reaching all
> levels of ability, so long as you can balance the configuration options
> well.. get the balance right between flexibility and complexity.
>
> Ian
>
>
>> From: games_access-request at igda.org
>> Subject: games_access Digest, Vol 107, Issue 4
>> To: games_access at igda.org
>> Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2012 17:00:00 -0500
>>
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>> 1. Re: games_access Digest, Vol 107, Issue 2 (Javier Mairena)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2012 22:59:26 +0100
>> From: Javier Mairena <javier.mairena at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [games_access] games_access Digest, Vol 107, Issue 2
>> To: Ian Hamilton <i_h at hotmail.com>
>> Cc: games_access at igda.org
>> Message-ID:
>> <CAO1r=jisGmjoNp7jFxhJeD4=EvYGdJH2spUNTzD_SwH4qe3kUA at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>> Hi!
>> I'm glad you like it :)
>> For who don't know what is Ian talking about:
>> http://t.co/4tWbVerZ
>>
>> The article is based on our last experience in a game for Autism.
>> The game is also in English:
>> https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/isequences/id506624913?mt=8
>> And French: https://itunes.apple.com/fr/app/isequences/id506624913?mt=8
>>
>> And have a Lite versi?n.
>>
>> We can chat via Skype if you want. Add my skype nick: "unmigo".
>>
>
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