01.

GAMES ADAPTED ACCORDING TO THE FORM OF AUTISM

Discover the most suitable games for autistic children within the COCO THINKS and COCO MOVES program.

FORMS OF AUTISM

There are different forms of autism, so every child is different, with specific difficulties and needs. It is therefore important to personalize the work for each child. With Coco, this personalization is possible, as the application adapts to the child and his or her needs, as well as to the professional and his or her therapeutic objectives.

Thanks to 3 levels of difficulty, Coco can be used and adapted to every stage of autism.

Stage 1 – Autism

At this stage, the child has trouble with social interaction, and has difficulty communicating or understanding others. He may also show low investment in relationships and utter atypical phrases. We may also find specific, restricted interests or repetitive behavior.

This game also stimulates attention and comprehension to understand the question, and memory to find the right answer.

With this game, you can also work on social language. With proverbs, you stimulate understanding and differentiation between the literal and figurative meanings of words/phrases. For example, the proverb “the best soup comes from an old pot” doesn’t literally mean that to make good soup, you have to use an old pot, but that experience is important if you want to improve.

The child can also learn proverbs and better recognize them in conversations and act appropriately.

Stage 2 – Autism

At this stage, symptoms are more pronounced, with the child becoming isolated and having difficulty interacting with others. Children can become frustrated when they can’t control their environment, if they can’t control a behavior or if there are too many external stimuli that are difficult to manage.

Finally, you can use this game together to maintain the relationship. The first to find the duplicate image must touch it on the screen or say the name of the image.

Finally, to maintain the relationship, you can also look up a recipe on the game, memorize the steps or ingredients and cook it for real!

Stage 3 – Autism

At this stage, the difficulties are more severe. The child is unable to communicate with others or form relationships. He may have fixed, repetitive ideas that the child can’t let go of. We can see a difficulty in changing mental patterns and a strong frustration when something doesn’t go as planned.

The child must use visual scanning to locate and identify the mole. He must adapt his behavior to the type of mole. The action to be taken is not always the same, so the child has to change his mental schema to act according to the stimuli present.

This game can also be played in pairs, with the screen divided into two parts. You can use it to maintain the relationship with the child and share the game with him.

What’s more, if a piece isn’t in the right place, the child can still move it to find the right solution. This allows the child to make several attempts and learn to deal with frustration.

All stages – Recognizing emotions

INSPIRATION

Inspiration is the ability of our mind to imagine and create things like drawings, poems, stories.

For inspiration, we’ll squint our eyes, scratch our heads lightly with a smile and pretend to paint, write or draw.

PAIN

Pain is an unpleasant sensation that can hurt. It can hurt physically with an accident. Pain can also be a feeling of missing someone or something or sadness.

To express the pain we raise the eyebrows upwards, we bend the eyes and we make a grimace with the face.

02.

AREAS OF FRAGILITY IN AUTISM

A child with autism may therefore encounter a variety of difficulties, in different areas of development and with different intensity. COCO can be adapted for each stage of autism, and can also be adapted to the cognitive functions to be stimulated.

Social interaction in children with autism

Children with autism have difficulties in social relationships because they can’t understand non-verbal language, irony or sentence innuendo. They also have difficulty understanding other people’s moods or expressing their emotions. Coco allows two players to play in certain games, enabling children to create relationships in a protected context and learn strategies for relating to others and managing emotions.

Memory games are familiar to all children, and children with autism can play them with their friends.

Finally, with this game you can stimulate other cognitive functions such as visual scanning, visual memory and immediate memory.

Interests and behavior of autistic children

Children with autism have restricted interests that can become fixed ideas that they can’t shake off. This fixation can give rise to atypical behavior, as the person may have stereotyped movements or rituals (for example, before leaving a doorway, he or she has to stamp his or her feet on the floor). These fixations and rituals lead the child to have fixed and limited mental patterns. Enriching or modifying the mental patterns they use is very difficult for them.

This activation or inhibition requires the child to change mental patterns several times and adapt to an external stimulus.

You also stimulate visual perception, attention, hand-eye coordination and reflexes. All these cognitive functions help children to enrich their mental schemas and find new strategies.

Cognitive stimulation for supporting children with autism

Children with autism may also have a cognitive delay, manifested by disorders in executive functions such as attention, memory, logic and planning. Cognitive impairment is not present in all forms of autism, but when it is, it’s important to keep a close eye on the child.

What’s more, each color is associated with a different sound: you can also stimulate auditory discrimination or auditory memory.

Finally, this game helps to increase memory capacity, as the difficulty of memorizing color combinations increases with the child’s success.

In this game, it’s possible to ask for clues: you can stimulate the use of feedback and help the child adapt to the instructions and clues he receives.

03.

ADAPTATION AND FOLLOW-UP  OF AUTISTIC CHILDREN

Autism is a developmental disorder that affects the way a person communicates, interacts socially, and perceives the world around them. For children with this disorder, careful monitoring of their progress in various areas of learning is essential to tailor educational interventions in a personalized and effective manner.

Working with a child with autism is not always straightforward, since different areas of development need to be considered, and the severity of the disorder varies from situation to situation. Coco also offers 3 levels of difficulty: the child can use the application at his or her own level, but the application can also follow the child’s progress (for example, the child can start at the easy level and move up to the medium level once better skills have been achieved). The games are designed to follow children’s development according to their age, skills and needs.

This game allows you to adapt the level to the child’s abilities and to follow his or her progress.

The game also stimulates memory and other cognitive functions. For example, if the child has good visual skills, he or she can focus on images. If he has good verbal skills, he can memorize the names of the pictures.

The presence of exceptions is very important for autistic children, as it helps them learn to break out of the pattern and accept something that “isn’t logic”.

In the medium and difficult levels, there are eight possible habitats. These levels require major identification and analysis. The child should focus not only on the characteristics of the animals, but also on the characteristics of the habitats.

MONITORING THE LEARNING OF AUTISTIC CHILDREN

This sports break has many advantages for children, especially those with autism.

Screen use is very useful and loved by children, but prolonged use can become negative. With Coco, children can take a dynamic break, learning to let go of the tablet and engage in physical activity while having fun at the same time.

All our physical activities are designed with children in mind. With balance and dance games, children learn to know their bodies and adapt to their environment. For children with autism, this can be very useful for augmenting known motor patterns and for gaining a better sense of self (especially when there is hypo or hypersensitivity).

In Coco, there’s also the “mime an emotion” game, where the child has to reproduce the emotion shown on screen by Coco. Children can first learn to name emotions, to recognize them in themselves and then in others. What’s more, there’s an audio description in the game that explains the emotion and what you feel in your body.

Practical strategies to implement in order to adapt learning

Adaptation and monitoring of learning in children with autism are crucial for their development. These children may struggle in a variety of areas, but with the right strategies, they can learn and progress significantly. Here are some practical tips for parents and educators:

1. Create a structured environment

• • Spatial organization :  Set up a clearly defined learning space that is free of distractions. Use visual cues to help the child understand where each activity needs to take place.
  • Predictable routine : Establish a daily routine. Children with autism often feel more comfortable with predictability, which reduces their anxiety and makes learning easier.

4. Foster social interaction

• • Role-playing and social stories: Practice role-playing to teach social and emotional skills. Social stories can prepare the child for specific social situations by describing the expected behavior in a simple way.
    Play/learning groups: Encourage participation in peer groups to develop social skills in a structured and supported environment.
  • Play/learning groups: Encourage participation in peer groups to develop social skills in a structured and supported environment.

5. Collaboration between professionals and parents

• • Regular communication: Ensure smooth communication between parents, educators, and therapists to maintain consistency in educational and therapeutic approaches.
  • Training and support: Parents and educators should be trained in specific methods of teaching and supporting children with autism. Look for workshops, seminars, and support groups.

6. Adaptation of learning objectives

• • Individualization : Tailor learning goals to the child’s abilities and interests. This involves adjusting challenges so that they are achievable, while remaining challenging.
  • Track progress : Document and evaluate progress regularly to adjust instructional strategies and goals based on the child’s needs.

These practical tips can go a long way in improving the learning experience for children with autism. It’s essential to keep in mind that every child is unique, and what works for one child may not work for another. Adaptability, patience and understanding are key to best support their development.

04.

SPORTS BREAKS BENEFIT AUTISTIC CHILDREN

Sports breaks provide children with autism with unique opportunities to improve their physical health and emotional well–being. By participating in adapted physical activities, they develop their social skills and build their self–confidence. Regular exercise helps reduce stress and anxiety, providing an effective way to manage emotions. These moments of play and interaction also promote the inclusion and social integration of children with autism into the community.

In COCO THINKS and COCO MOVES you will also find physical activities. Every 15 minutes of screen time, the app stops and offers children physical games.

This sports break has several benefits for children, especially if they have autism.

Screen use is very useful and loved by children, but prolonged use can become negative. With Coco, the child can take a dynamic break, so he learns to let go of the tablet to do a physical activity while having fun at the same time.

Incorporating scheduled sports breaks provides a predictable structure that can provide reassurance and help manage anxiety about change and uncertainty.Sport plays a vital role in the development of children with autism, providing significant benefits both physically and psychologically. As part of the innovative “Coco thinks and Coco moves“ program, a sports break is imposed every 15 minutes of screen time, thus promoting a healthy balance between cognitive and physical activities. Here are the benefits of this approach:

1. Improved coordination and motor skills

• • Motor development : Physical activities help improve hand–eye coordination, balance, and fine and gross motor skills. This development is crucial for children with autism, who may face challenges in these areas.
  • Active pause : Regular transition from sedentary to physical activity encourages the adoption of a variety of motor behaviours, thus enhancing the body‘s flexibility and adaptability.

2. Reduction of repetitive behaviors

• • Decreased anxiety : Exercise can reduce stress and anxiety levels, leading to a decrease in the repetitive and self–stimulating behaviors often seen in children with autism.
  • Structure and predictability : Incorporating scheduled sports breaks provides a predictable structure that can provide reassurance and help manage anxiety about change and uncertainty.

5. Sensory integration

• • Multisensory stimulation : Sport provides an opportunity to experiment with various sensory stimuli in a controlled manner, helping children to better process and integrate sensory information.
  • Reduced sensory sensitivity : Regular exposure to different textures, sounds, and movements can help reduce sensory sensitivity and improve sensory tolerance.

Practical implementation in “Coco Thinks and Coco Moves”

Here are some suggestions to effectively integrate these sports breaks into the program:

The integration of regular sports breaks, such as in the “Coco Thinks and Coco Moves“ program, offers an innovative and holistic method for supporting autistic children and their development, balancing cognitive and physical stimulations for their overall well–being.