This article is based on a recent study titled the “Prevalence and Correlates of Screen-Based Media Use Among Youths with Autism Spectrum Disorders,” published in the current issue of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. The main theme of the article is that adolescents on the spectrum choose anti-social activities like video games and TV over things like e-mail and facebook. The finding isn't all that surprising in its conclusions and there have been any number of articles about children and adolescents on the spectrum loving the iPad. The first comment quickly addresses exactly what I was thinking while I read it:

"Julie Pennell says: January 27, 2012 at 12:41 PM I am wondering about a potential error in the data that was collected. The article describes video games as non-social, screen-based media. In the study, did the authors differentiate between games that are truly played in a solitary fashion (player vs the computer) from the Masive Multi-Player On-line (MMO) games? Speaking as the mother of a son who spends a lot of time “gaming”, I can report there is a huge social component to these MMOs. In order to be successful, a player must form alliances with other players to achieve higher level goals. If we are talking about teens and adults, the online gaming community is a potentially valuable source of companionship and camaraderie.

Email and chatting (which for the purposes of the study are defined as “socially interactive media”) are language based activities with which many people on the spectrum already have difficulty. I can see why the appeal isn’t very high.

Technology is constantly changing to allow higher and higher levels of collaboration amongst on-line gamers. Before we declare that all forms of online gaming are “socially passive”, let’s make sure we are accurate in our assessment of the subjects."

The game pictured, Monkeyquest, is one such game. It's pretty brilliant. Nickelodeon advertises this game endlessly through popular shows like iCarly and Victorious. It's FREE, they say, which it is to a point. Then you have to buy 'Nickcash' to unlock the advanced levels and there's a shop where you buy things for your monkey like helmets and an eye patch and so on. It's become a reward and occasional bargaining tool for us. But like Julie is saying here there is a large social component to the game. Each kid has their own monkey and individual handle (Curtis is "Hugo Backhealer" ) and they congregate to go on missions and complete quests. You have to hook up with people of similar ability and there is a dialogue box to help each other and share information. As the kids play, other monkeys are running past them and you have the opportunity to talk to them or shake them down for their nickcash ( I've seen it).

From the article:

 “In future studies, we need to learn more about both positive and negative aspects of media use in children with ASD. We need to look for ways to capitalize on strengths and interests in screen-based technology.” Mazurek said.

Definitely all for capitalizing on the strengths and interests in the technology. Not so much worried about kids on the spectrum skipping the rigours of school gossip.


Greg, Dad 


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