GAMESS: Games for students with Autism as an effective Methodology in Education for the development of Social Skills

Schools in Denmark are obliged to differentiate education on the requirements of the children as a whole rather than sending them to special education. However, development has demonstrated that t...

One of the characteristics of children with ASD, ADHD, learning disabilities and other neurodevelopmental disorders is social skills deficiency. Given the idiosyncratic difficulties in the social and emotional understanding of pupils with ASD, teachers may face considerable difficulties in managing their needs, thereby affecting the quality of the teachers’ relationship with these pupils (Emam and Farrell, 2009). Within this context, and considering how important learning social skills from an early age is, and the challenges teachers can face, we proposed a project with a target group of general preschool/primary school teachers that have in their mainstream classes children with ASD, with the following objectives: *To design, test and publish an innovative Educational Package on GBL for mainstream education teachers (primary school) *To design and create a variety of games- a VR game, and a booklet with a number of group classroom games that promote social skills development in children with autism but also in their neurotypical peers *To deliver a training course to train general primary teachers on GBL and how to use and create a variety of games to teach social skills to children with autism in the mainstream classroom

The mission of the project was to develop a GBL package for Social Skills specially designed for young children with autism. An integrated approach was used to accomplish this task. The consortium started by creating the Social Skills Curriculum (IO1) for primary school teachers complemented by 2 types of games - a VR game (PR2), and group classroom games (PR3), as an educational package, which set up the pathway for teachers to effectively teach important social skills to students with autism. Apart from the aforementioned project results, a 5-day LTTA (C1) was organized for teachers. During the C1 training, the teachers were trained on how to utilize the PRs to teach children with autism social skills they needed to integrate into the community. All PRs were pilot-tested on the teachers during the LTTA. The pilot testing of the developed PRs started after the completion of their drafts to allow improvements and modifications during the C1. The teachers, upon completion of the training event, gave feedback with suggestions for improvements. Besides the PRs and the LTTA, 5 ME were organized towards the end of the project to disseminate the project results.

1. Project Results: The GBL for Social skills Curriculum, a VR game promoting social skills, and a booklet with group classroom games promoting social skills, all interconnected. 2. LTTA: 1 training activity for teachers to use GBL (including VR technology) to teach social skills to children with ASD in the mainstream classroom 3.5 multiplier events to promote the project, its results and outcomes among teachers and other stakeholders (organisations for people with SEN, teacher organisations, SENCOs, policymakers, and reformers) (E1-E5) Other expected outcomes of the project include: -Each partner had the opportunity to learn about different aspects of GBL as well as VR technology as an educational tool, as practised in each partner’s country, exchange good practices and experiences, develop common recommendations and guidelines and improve their competencies in the field of GBL and teaching social skills to children with ASD. -Formation of friendly relations between teachers from Denmark and the other partner countries, exchange of experiences and challenges they face and mutual support regarding the social inclusion of pupils with autism in the mainstream classroom -The project facilitated the collaboration between key people (trainers, specialists, experts, representatives of local authorities) and teachers from each partner -The project facilitated the social integration of children with ASD in the mainstream classroom -European international mobility of project participants (field professionals, representatives of target groups) -Social media campaigns -Project participants’ language and social competencies through active transnational communication and participation in project activities -It could raise autism awareness at local and EU level It is expected to improve children with ASD’s and their neurotypical peers’ social skills Additionally, the project also foresees a set of project management, dissemination, monitoring and evaluation, and coordination results. Once the project is completed the partnership will disseminate its results and will transfer the developed practices and educational products to other contexts and educational fields. Moreover, the PRs will be used in partners' institutional activities with other teachers working with children with ASD.