Why Not a Wii?
November 2, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Teachers at Patterson Mill Middle/High School in Maryland are using a Wii to teach autistic students sports, today’s Baltimore Sun reports. The teachers were able to purchase the Nintendo device through a grant; the Wii’s been incorporated into the students’ daily schedule. And, I know someone who’s planning to teach autistic students to use a Wii as her project for master’s thesis.
(Though I don’t think we’ll be getting one at home, preferring to stick to “actual” exercise (biking, swimming) rather than the virtual sort……..)
I think it’s a good idea. I’ve thought of Dance Dance Revolution or one of its kind for my own classroom. While we do have PE daily, being cooped up inside for weather reasons can be difficult for my kids (the recent fires forced them inside for several days), and that seems like something they would enjoy.
Indeed, the Wii has already been used succesfully over here (UK) to therapeutic (or teaching!) effect in places such as prisons and nursing homes.
They get to play Nintendo is prisons over there?
Indeed, the prison population tends to have extreme problems with maintaining health and fitness, and thus a sizeable number of prisoners develop conditions in prison or exacerbate existing health conditions.
Given that they also have a disproportionately high number of people with health conditions (and learning disorders, and mental health disorders) entering the prison population (disproportionate to the general population and the offending population) it’s easy to see how health is a major concern, or should be, if any politician here actually gave a serious fiddle about prisoners.
We love wii sports here, it has helped Alec’s coordination and given him confidence. What I loved was on rainy days it got him standing up and moving around. He couldn’t go to a real bowling alley because the noise would be unbearable for him but with the wii we can have family game nights and the great thing is he usually wins
Clearly this gives me the perfect excuse to run out right now and buy a Wii.
We got PJ a Wii for his 10th birthday last week. He has been playing on an Xbox 360 for two years and we were hoping he would embrace the teamwork aspect of the Wii games.
He is quite the sight when playing Wii Sports Tennis. He runs and jumps all over the place, which is fantastic compared to his usual couch potato mode when playing Xbox.
The only real problem is that we have spent money in extra games that are gathering dust, since all he wants to play is Wii sports. Wii Music is the only one that will keep him busy for more than 5 minutes.
If anyone is considering a Wii don’t bother with extra games unless the child is specifically showing interest about it.
I can see how this could be very useful; expecially in cases, as Alli mentioned above, where the sensory input from doing the “actual” activity could be too overwhelming or overstimulating.
I’d consider this for Nik if I thought it would help him with eye-hand coordination, too.
Ok, I’m going to have to think about it now—–well, maybe we’ll have to wait till we move out of a 2nd floor condo. Our downstairs neighbor may not take to kindly to anyone Dance Dance Revolution-ing above his head.
He can bowl or play tennis on it, too. They’re really pretty dang fun.
Scotty is great at video games; he had the original Nintendo and the Sega, and we’ve managed to hold onto the Dreamcast & N64 as well as get the X-Box and all. He’s GREAT at video games, he loves them.
That said, he cannot for the life of him work the Wii. It’s really sad and really frustrating, because we worked so hard to get it for him, and the game place went out of their way to hold one back for us.
I’ve tried and tried and tried, and he just can’t get the point-and-click aspect of it. Maybe younger students can, but at 25, Scott just doesn’t grok it and feels silly and stupid for not being able to. We get out the classic controller and let him play those virtual games instead.
I don’t know Kristina, it’s not a bad idea for those of us who have to deal with winter! In our case though, Casey is so uncompetative at this point, he really has no interest in trying sports animated or real. He does like creating the little characters and some brain game for Wii my sister has! We may invest in one at some point, but I forsee my hubby and I playing way more than Casey!
We have a Wii and we absolutely love it! I’ve often thought that it would be a useful tool in a middle school or high school program to help kids with social skills – working together, communicating, etc in addition to the physical benefits.
Our favorites our Wii Play, Wii Sports, Wii Fit, and Wii Music (which they’re playing right now). One problem we do have sometimes is that C, our 12 year old, gets VERY competitive and so we have to make him take breaks so it doesn’t turn in to a full on melt down. But he’s had that problem since Day 1, so it’s really nothing too new.
Anyway, if you are considering it, I really recommend it. It’s great for the whole family!
The Wii is fantastic. You must get it.
I’m not trying to hypnotize you.
The Wii is excellent! Aside from the Wii sports pack, there is all a Wii-fit add-on that is great fun.
This is very interesting. We’re not cutting edge electronics folks so we would not have necessarily heard of Wii. Yeah, lots of potential applications.
“Wii-habilitation”
Youtube video
We were encouraged by our autism doctor to get a Wii – I looked at it as sort of a prescription, if you will. The whole family has benefitted.
We have the Wii Fit with the balance board. I am so impressed with the visuals that accompany the balance game. A Wii is no replacement for OT but it has helped my boys a lot.
It provides motivation, is culturally relevant, is a self-structuring activity, gives immediate and tangible rewards for effort, can be scaled to provide a ‘just right’ challenge, and is repeatable and measurable.
That’s everything us OT’s look for in any activity.
I guess we’re in the minority. We definately prefer outside activites (even in the snow) to screen time.
Karen,
The pointing aspect of the Wii is still a challenge for PJ, because he was too used to the Xbox 360 way of playing. Once the game starts he is fine, he immediately understood that the controller is motion sensitive, but the pointing is still an issue. Even weirder is that he has been using a Mac for about two years too, so it isn’t that he doesn’t understand the concept of a pointer.