Marguerite
Active Member
We've had a different approach to video games - we see them as a coping strategy for the child. It may not be the coping strategy we might choose, but we work within that boundary and get the child to begin to exercise some controls. For example, difficult child 1 would voluntarily hand me his controllers during school hours especially when he had work to catch up on. We also discussed with difficult child 3 that certain games made him more anxious if he played them after dinner, so we set limits (with his involvement) on when he could play them, and when he shouldn't. As he got older and felt he could cope, he approached us and asked us to trial changing the limits on those games.
Our current aim with him is to get him off games before midnight, preferably by 11 pm. He's expanded now in the electronic stuff that interests him, but because he knows we won't take it away, he is less anxious and insistent on "his rights" than he used to be. He has to learn self-control, we cannot spend our lives standing over him and being the policeman.
As a result we have far fewer fights. I'd like to see less gaming, but we are far more able to get him out of the house when we ask him to stop for a while. He knows he can always go back to it, I think that helps.
We have found that if we try to limit it, we have minimal success but the attempt seems to push the pressure to play computer games up even higher. I think the problem is chicken or the egg - I do not believe that computer games are the problem; Asperger's is the problem. Computer games are part of the symptom and to a certain extent, part of the child's chosen management strategy. Take away what they feel they need to do to cope, and you make a lot of problems a great deal worse.
Example - difficult child 3 is currently having a lot of trouble concentrating. I have also noticed an increase in computer use. Not so much gaming, but a range of things. It's not one thing, it's a few, including an increase in interest in creative outlets (3-D photography, for example) that use the computer. mother in law said to me that she feels the problem is caused by his computer use. However, I feel the increase in computer use is a result, not a cause. It's now looking like medication incompatibility is a major factor in difficult child 3's concentration problems.
So monitor computer use, try to direct it to educational games or some other more productive pursuit, and perhaps aim for calmer games before bedtime (games like Myst or Riven, quiet problem-solving role plays). But especially if it causes fights, I would put computer gaming in Basket C.
Marg
Our current aim with him is to get him off games before midnight, preferably by 11 pm. He's expanded now in the electronic stuff that interests him, but because he knows we won't take it away, he is less anxious and insistent on "his rights" than he used to be. He has to learn self-control, we cannot spend our lives standing over him and being the policeman.
As a result we have far fewer fights. I'd like to see less gaming, but we are far more able to get him out of the house when we ask him to stop for a while. He knows he can always go back to it, I think that helps.
We have found that if we try to limit it, we have minimal success but the attempt seems to push the pressure to play computer games up even higher. I think the problem is chicken or the egg - I do not believe that computer games are the problem; Asperger's is the problem. Computer games are part of the symptom and to a certain extent, part of the child's chosen management strategy. Take away what they feel they need to do to cope, and you make a lot of problems a great deal worse.
Example - difficult child 3 is currently having a lot of trouble concentrating. I have also noticed an increase in computer use. Not so much gaming, but a range of things. It's not one thing, it's a few, including an increase in interest in creative outlets (3-D photography, for example) that use the computer. mother in law said to me that she feels the problem is caused by his computer use. However, I feel the increase in computer use is a result, not a cause. It's now looking like medication incompatibility is a major factor in difficult child 3's concentration problems.
So monitor computer use, try to direct it to educational games or some other more productive pursuit, and perhaps aim for calmer games before bedtime (games like Myst or Riven, quiet problem-solving role plays). But especially if it causes fights, I would put computer gaming in Basket C.
Marg