Anecdotal Example Autism Spectrum Toddlers and RPG

people are talking about and how D&D I mean you're just going against the stereotype it's helpful for for for

57:34

people on the spectrum to do things like that so yeah I talked a little bit about that number one a lot of people in a

57:39

spectrum naturally gravitate towards role-playing gaming for whatever the reason the the rules the structure whether it's

57:45

because of comic books or fantasy or fiction because of their existing interests they're fascinated with it to

57:51

begin with so it's actually kind of low-hanging fruit as far as a population how are they discovering they stumble

57:58

across it they go to a hobby store to go buy a card game or something and they see a game happening at the store a

58:04

friend tells them about it we tell them about it what have you my case I don't

58:09

like it's out of place Patrick they saw Pat they saw this podcast and they

58:15

wanted to yeah there are all sorts of different people come to it all many different ways so so there's a lot who

58:20

just gravitate to it naturally and as long as they're functional enough that

58:26

they don't get ostracized which does happen some groups will be very welcoming and patient and tolerant and

58:32

help them build up the skills and be direct with them and and help them get better at it other groups are like

58:37

what's wrong with him he's weird whatever and they'll just kind of push him away so and of course our groups are

58:42

welcoming and inviting we have entire program times all the way from two and a half years old as I mentioned earlier

58:48

both autism spectrum and neurologically normal peers the terminology keeps changing and they were partnered up

58:54

through a program there so we did a live-action role-playing adaptation from two and a five-year-old some of them

59:00

were nonverbal communicators so like hand flapping stereotyped behavior no verbal communication they understand but

59:06

they don't communicate verbally and there were four of three or four other recreational therapy activities set up

59:13

for them to try and our goal was to keep them engaged for the full 15 to 20 minutes at art station as they rotated

59:19

through stations ours was the only program that they can all of them completed except one we had a dozen of

59:24

them at the time and one of them she made it 3/4 the way and then she stopped at stacking these foam dice we've made

59:30

with animals and the goal was he had to throw the the dice and then act out the animal to overcome them that's how you

59:36

controlled and subdued the creatures that was whatever die rolled up with the and well there's a dragon or a bird or a

59:41

dog and they act it out and then they control it and then they go save the queen in the king and all this stuff

59:47

all of them stuck out the full time and then only won the most profoundly impaired gets fixated at that last stage

59:53

but had a wonderful time anyway all the others only lasted about five

59:58

minutes at each of their stations and such so they've really stood out at that young and age fast

1:00:04

yeah this is - to find really have - five years old both non autism spectrum and autism spectrum the not onto the

1:00:11

spectrum that's even easier but you still got to keep them entertained a good time I mean I'm thinking there's like I don't think I mean that was some

1:00:18

of the reason why I didn't want to bring in D&D too early was because I don't want to make sure my kids I started I started about four years old yeah and no

1:00:26

problem I've three boys and yeah not a problem you just have to read a lot for them let them roll the dice do the

1:00:32

reading for them tell them what's on there they're happy they're scribbling they don't know what's on but you can honestly tell them and they'll remember

1:00:39

it because it's part of their story they know it's a narrative it's there you can tell them their stats and if they're stronger or weaker no thank you evil is

1:00:45

a great introduction at just five years old yeah we just cracked that one open yeah oh it's a great game for that so

1:00:52

Using Live-Action Role-Playing Adapted Activities for ASD Toddlers

http://rpgr.org/blog/creating-larp-program-for-autistic-toddlers

This program plan was implemented in a single trial with ASD toddlers and their neurologically normal peer group.

Program plan development and implementation previewed, monitored, and reviewed by program members, volunteers, classmates, and Professor Emily Messina, Director of the Therapeutic Recreation Department for Eastern Washington University. The LARP program run simultaneously in parallel to several other activity programs created by other groups, in a large gym/dance-hall. Participants rotated from group-to-group every 15 minutes. While participants lost focus/interest in all the non-LARP activities within an average of 5 minutes (indicated typical by the ASD program's representatives), when the participants engaged in the LARP-adapted activities other results were immediately observed and comment upon by the ASD program representatives.

Immediately observed results during program implementation:

• Noted immediate reduction in presentation of significant stereotypical behaviours (hand-flapping, fixation, distraction, lack of response/interaction to/with others, etc.) during the activities using RPG-based activities compared to those activities without
• Better positive experiences with cooperative engagement using RPG-based activities than those without
• Better success rates at completing all tasks cooperatively with RPG approach compared to non-RPG activities (all but one participant completed all tasks successfully, and all maintained attention and focus for full duration of a 15 minute session rotation, compared to average of only 5 minutes for all the other groups running non-RPG-related activities.
• Noted improvement in interaction and communication with other participants when using the RPG-related adapted activities than those without.
• Better response and success rates in complying with instructions to correctly complete multi-staged activities.

awke Robinson says:

Mar 19, 2014 10:48 AM

Successful adaptive LARP (Live-action Role-playing) cooperative quests for Autism spectrum toddlers from a recreation therapy program plan perspective. Due to overly restrictive NDA, I can't provide much detail, but just wanted to share that the implementation went very well. Hopefully over time, while protecting the privacy of the participants, I can provide more details. The first step of many in goals for developing specific therapeutic interventions using role-playing gaming in various forms (live-action, tabletop, and computer-based) for different population needs.

https://w3.rpgresearch.com/research/archives/public/population/diagnosis-autism-spectrum/2014-creating-larp-program-for-autism-spectrum-toddlers

from a very high-level overview of observed results from a single trial session (monitored by program members, volunteers, and Professor/Director of Therapeutic Recreation Department for Eastern Washington University): Immediately noticed significant reduction of "stereotypical" behaviours (hand-flapping, fixation, distraction, lack of response/interaction to/with others, etc.) during the activities using RPG-based activities compared to those activities without, better positive experiences with cooperative engagement using RPG-based activities than those without, better success rates at completing all tasks cooperatively with RPG approach compared to non-RPG activities (all but one participant completed all tasks successfully, and all maintained attention and focus for full duration of session (15+ minutes rotation) compared to average of only 5 minutes for all the other groups running non-RPG-related activities. Improved efforts at interaction and communication with other participants when using the RPG-related adapted activities than those without.