I'm a teacher at a special education outplacement school. A few of the more difficult middle school students (I teach at the high school) were "building D&D characters" without a book or anything and were just playing pretend but due to their particular nature they were unable to keep from fighting and what not. So I agreed to step up and run "a real game" and teach them "the rules." I've never run more than a few throw away single shot games for friends but have played for many years.
The students: All three of them are very high functioning (diagnosed pre-DSM V with Asperger's and either ADHD or OCD). All three of them have genius level IQs (three standard deviations or more away from mean, 145+ but most likely far higher than that). Trouble is their emotional and social skills are the equivalent of a first grader at best.
So my question is... Does anyone have any tips for me?
A couple of my preliminary thoughts:
1) I will be rewarding EXP based upon their social IEP goals instead of encounters defeated.
2) I will have a list of rules posted on a whiteboard that helps them remember what gets them EXP. What rules should be on the list? I'm thinking right now to go with "Be moral in character," "The DM makes the rules," "Work collaboratively" "No Cheating" any other suggestions? I don't have the kids personally in class so I'll go pull their IEPs later today to flush the rules out for their particular needs but what about things that apply to games that I've just taken for granted in the past?
3) What would an ideal adventure be for their first ever game? Does someone have an encounter where they HAVE to work together in some particular way for them to succeed?
I'll give this some more thought and come back and say more later but I'd appreciate any input i could get. I'm nervous that this will backfire and my outing myself as a giant D&D nerd to my coworkers will be for naught.
The students: All three of them are very high functioning (diagnosed pre-DSM V with Asperger's and either ADHD or OCD). All three of them have genius level IQs (three standard deviations or more away from mean, 145+ but most likely far higher than that). Trouble is their emotional and social skills are the equivalent of a first grader at best.
So my question is... Does anyone have any tips for me?
A couple of my preliminary thoughts:
1) I will be rewarding EXP based upon their social IEP goals instead of encounters defeated.
2) I will have a list of rules posted on a whiteboard that helps them remember what gets them EXP. What rules should be on the list? I'm thinking right now to go with "Be moral in character," "The DM makes the rules," "Work collaboratively" "No Cheating" any other suggestions? I don't have the kids personally in class so I'll go pull their IEPs later today to flush the rules out for their particular needs but what about things that apply to games that I've just taken for granted in the past?
3) What would an ideal adventure be for their first ever game? Does someone have an encounter where they HAVE to work together in some particular way for them to succeed?
I'll give this some more thought and come back and say more later but I'd appreciate any input i could get. I'm nervous that this will backfire and my outing myself as a giant D&D nerd to my coworkers will be for naught.