How Minecraft is helping children with autism make new friends

Saskatoon Autistic Services has created a Minecraft team to help children with autism develop their social skills. Minecraft offers a new way to connect with children with underdeveloped social skills. Minecraft provides an environment that develops social media platforms as students learn to communicate and play according to well-defined game rules. Used for both fun and learning, Minecraft allows players to learn, play and build at the same time.

Unlike the bricks that impressed us as children, Minecraft allows players' imagination to run into whatever they think. Minecraft started as an indie game set in an almost endless world full of animals, monsters, and other players who can access many colorful blocks that can be combined into complex buildings. For children with autism, Minecraft provides a global perspective and rules. As mentioned earlier, one of the main reasons I found when talking to kids with autism about their love for Minecraft is the freedom they can play in its sandbox space.

As a pediatric psychiatrist, I had the opportunity to interview a few children and young people with autism whose favorite game Minecraft. Now, thousands of children with autism are making friends and learning social skills by playing the online game version of Minecraft. In 2013, Stuart Duncan created a server to launch a Minecraft version designed exclusively for children with autism and their families. Stuart Duncan, an autism specialist, has created a Minecraft invitation-only version of Autcraft specifically for children with autism and their families.

Some parents of children with autism start telling Stuart Duncan that their children are crazy about the online game Minecraft. Stuart Duncan believes that children with autism also enjoy the computer game Minecraft because they are often disappointed with the setting.

Stuart Duncan and his two sons have enjoyed playing the Minecraft PC game together for years, but for some Minecraft players with autism, trying to play with others can often lead to harassment and death threats from strangers online. For children with autism, online communication may be as stressful as in the real world. Everyday social situations can be difficult for children with autism, who may find it difficult to take social cues or understand someone else's point of view.

For children who find it difficult to meet people, make friends, and study in the school environment, this is especially important. Craig Smith says similar changes are evident in autistic children: they can learn social lessons in Minecraft. The popular Minecraft game building and planning game can help kids in this and these kids can make friends with their peers.

Kids play with friends after school, often with friends they know only in the famous Minecraft game and not in the real world. Many of these kids get involved and tell their friends about their Minecraft game - a nice side effect of their game - but sometimes kids can’t take their eyes off the screen when it comes to Minecraft. Although they enjoyed the game but many children were abused by other players.

Many autistic communities understand how much our kids love this game and organize events where like-minded kids can play in a safe environment. Minecraft's autistic version not only integrates children, but also helps them in their daily lives. Everything Special Needs also organizes free play times to help our kids learn how to be social.

Butler Special Needs Center at Suffolk Y JCC provides after-school, community, and entertainment programs for children and adults with special needs. Helping Hands Children Services provides a variety of in-school and out-of-school behavioral counseling services, autism spectrum disorder services, training courses / seminars, individual behavioral training, and specialized teacher training services, teaching services, parenting education, pet care. ABA cases, resource room and community skills program.

Camp Achieve, JCC Friedberg, 15 Neil Court, Oceanside, NY, for children aged 5-13 with autism, and people with learning and speech impairments. The goal of Family Autism Networks is to help children and young people with special needs build meaningful relationships to combat feelings of isolation and depression. The Family Autism Network works to build a community of parents who can communicate and support each other.

Autcraft is a dedicated Minecraft server specifically designed for autism players and their families and friends. The Autcraft community uses additional software plugins to make the Minecraft game world easier, especially for younger players. This is especially true for Autcraft autistic teens who use Minecraft's accessible interface to support their social media game without any obstacles that can make it difficult for Autcraft autistic teens to play offline.

Learning Minecraft is easy because the gaming community has published thousands of player guides on YouTube. If you have a child who loves Minecraft, you may be interested in reading the recommended videos for kids at Minecraft LearningWorks, what kids can learn from Minecraft, how sandbox games like Minecraft can help kids with autism, and if you think it's time to change that. . , other games that your child may be interested in, such as Minecraft.