How 'Pokemon Go' is helping kids with autism and Asperger's

Pokemon Go Assist Children with Autism/Asperger’s Syndrome

Pokemon Go does not only entertain but the game also tends to assist children with autism and Asperger’s syndrome control in their developmental disabilities. The augmented reality game is said to enhance their social, decision-making as well the skills in solving problems.

The improved reality feature of the game, together with the method of rewarding player who tend to go to Pokestops placed at famous landmarks in their societies have led several players to be more interactive than earlier while playing the video games. When a twelve year old Ian Thayer had asked his mom to go outside for Pokemon hunting, Stephanie Barnhill at first had been surprised andexcited.Ian was suffering from Asperger’s syndrome and for him it meant struggling with social interactions and motivation while going out.

Barnhill frequently had difficulties in persuading Ian to leave his space to explore outside. He had also rejected Pokemon Go at first. However, Barnhill has informed that since he began flicking away and catching Pokemon, Ian has now started going outside more often and interacting with the other children and also with his community.

Pokemon Go Beneficial in Socializing with Other Kids

Barnhill informed that he has readily agreed to go out to Pokestops, get Pokeballs and catch creatures when earlier he seemed to be disinterested in going outside. He was not the type who would go out and play but this game had helped him to want to reach out to people and get into conversation regarding the creatures they have caught. Lenore Koppelman the mother of a six year old Ralphie having autism and hyperlexia which is linked with verbal language problems also noticed that Pokemon Go was beneficial in assisting her son in socializing with the other kids.

The kids get so engrossed in catching Pokemon that they tend to concentrate in discovering them more than they tend to concentrate on his behaviour as they generally tend to do. Koppelman has informed that the outcome is that her son is now found in the middle of groups of kids he does not even know and enjoys playing with them.

Shared Interest Sparked Changes

Although no assessable learning is done to the effects of Pokemon Go, Dr James McPartland, director of Yale’s Developmental Disabilities Clinic in the Child Study Centre has informed that the game seems to be appealing with the kids with autism or Asperger’s due to its consistency as well as structure. He stated that `Pokemon Go comprises of a limited set of interesting characters which is reliable and steady and kids with autism often like things that are like this which are list-based or concrete or fact-based.

They are very good at learning about things and memorizing things, so not only is this a shared area of interest, it is an area wherein the kinds of strengths with autism can shine’. As per a school psychologist in New York, Dr Peter Faustino, who does not tend to work with Ian or Ralphie, it is the shared interest which has helped in sparking changes in the kids with autism or Asperger’s. He has described how he tends to guide kids with Asperger’s or autism in adapting a social hook which he explains as `something which would share an experience or a connection’