Transactions
Autistic children typically fail to some degree to recognize other people as being a human entity like they are. In extreme cases other people appear to be no more significant than say a chair or a television. This means that for autistic children, the only significant person in the world is themselves and as a result they behave in a manner that appears to be very selfish. Where non-autistic children know instinctively that to get along with other children they must consider the opinions and feelings of others, autistic children must be taught this concept. The idea of being considerate often begins with something as simple as taking turns.A DAY AT THE MARKET
This game encourages children with Autism to practice transaction skills. These include how one might cope with conversation, the giving and receiving of information and financial transactions. The aim of this game is to reduce the amount of conflict and stress by enabling the child to make more sense of what is happening in the world around them.
The game reinforces the following keywords that can be generalized into real world situations; 'hello', 'goodbye', 'thank you', 'no thankyou', 'help', 'helped', 'shop', 'shopping', 'shopkeeper', 'shopping list'.
ERIC GOES TO THE AIRPORT
This game teaches autistic children how to wait in line. Combining our knowledge of game development with established methods of teaching social interactions, we have developed a narrative and game that demonstrates appropriate behaviour, such as taking turns and how to entertain yourself when waiting in line.
We hope that students playing this game will associate this reference with positive waiting in line behaviours. The game reinforces the following keywords, which can be used as a tool by parents and teachers for encouraging positive behaviours in real life situations; 'turn' and 'good waiting'.
