GAMING support groups should be set up across Scotland and incorporated into education for autistic children and young people, campaigners have suggested.
The National told last week how a documentary made by Scottish-Algerian filmmaker Carina Haouchine has shed light on how her brothers Thomas, 15, and Sam, 12, and their friends found solace in playing the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) for six years while working through various mental health problems.
Thomas and his friend – also named Tom – were going through the autism diagnosis process at the time of filming and were able to form a strong bond through playing the game regularly every week.
Having seen the documentary and following talks with Haouchine, The National Autistic Society Scotland has now called for gaming to be utilised more as a support mechanism for autistic children and young people.
The charity – which runs social programmes for children in Glasgow that involve gaming – is currently campaigning for Scotland to have an “autism commissioner” who can hold service providers to account and promote good practice.
Director Rob Holland has said Haouchine’s documentary painted in a positive way how games like D&D can help autistic children with their social development and has suggested a commissioner could look at how that could be brought into education while examining how support groups based around gaming could be set up across the country.
Holland said: “I think there is definitely something positive about providing safe and supportive environments for autistic young people to game in.
“D&D is quite a structured way of interacting which may well benefit autistic people. One of the barriers can be around social interactions and D&D provides a framework to do that.
“At the moment, families don’t have the services and support they need and the reason we are campaigning for a commissioner is to act as a catalyst for change to make sure autistic people get that support.
“If what they need is social support and providing these kinds of groups where young people can get together in a safe place then that’s the right support to provide, absolutely.
“When we did our report [on the need for a commissioner] 49% of people said they needed support in education.
“I think the commissioner would have a role in addressing that and I think providing things like this [in schools] might be the right way to go.
“You might have children who are very socially isolated at school and one of the solutions could be offering some opportunities to get together and game.
“When I went to the last social group we held – and there was a lot of D&D going on – I was speaking to one of the group leaders who was saying one of the young people playing had barely left the house a few years ago and there he was playing D&D, chatting away to people, and you would not have known if someone had told you he didn’t leave the house two years ago.”
Haouchine said Thomas and Tom have been the most committed to the game and are still trying to find ways to play it now, with their other friends having found other interests along the way. She puts that down to the fact they have valued having someone to share their experiences with, while the nature of the game helped them to overcome social anxieties.
The 26-year-old from Glasgow said it was heartwarming to see how much gaming helped the pair on their autism diagnosis journey, with them both enjoying the escapism it provided.
She said: “It was lovely to see, for example, how Tom would come in and he’d have just had an appointment and they bonded over that and how difficult it was as well, in terms of the system not working well to support them at times.
“Their friendship was founded on their love for D&D and then through that they had someone who completely understood what they were going through.
“Thomas and Tom were the two that were the most dedicated to the game whereas some of the other boys did start to get other interests.
“For my brother Thomas, what he loved about it was the continuity and the regular sitting down with people once a week and within that just getting to have fun.
“Thomas thinks it’s also beneficial you can rehearse things in D&D in social situations. It’s quite a safe space but also scary because you’re acting in front of people that maybe you don’t know very well so it’s like a contained environment where you can explore social situations through different characters.
“A lot of chats about anxiety came up too during their play. Tom’s character had a panic attack in the game which I thought was really amazing that he played out something that he struggles with.”
SNP MSP Natalie Don is currently looking to set up a cross-party group in the Scottish Parliament on gaming and, while that will largely look at supporting the video gaming industry, she said other role-playing games like D&D – which has heavily influenced video games – need to form part of discussions on how the activity can play a part in education and social support, particularly in helping autistic and disabled young people.
The keen Xbox gamer added: “I’ve tried to highlight the positive impact of gaming for everyone, but there’s these really key strands like disabilities and autism and if there’s specific games that can help then that is something we should be utilising and promoting.
“Gaming can really help you cast away any difficulties or anything that’s going on and let you focus on this other world or character. D&D is one of those original immersion games so I think it can be brought into discussions we have in the cross-party group.
“We definitely need to be talking about how these sorts of games could be brought into education. There are problem-solving and social skills you can learn in games, so I think that educational aspect is very important.”
