Lwaxy
Cute but dangerous
Coming into this late but there are a few tings that definitely need to be said. As an Aspie, I have some worries here.
Never believe just because we are not able to express it well or recognize needs in others, we have no empathy. That's about the biggest BS psychologists have spread around. Also, we are different but not defective. The way some educational goals are set and how young spectrumites are dealt with by the school system can be totally against their nature and what they would really need. It is too bad that not all of them are helped to Aspie forums where they could get advise from the older generation.
I don't know their IEPs and what each of them is supposed to learn. I'm guessing though, based on my family and friends on spectrum, that they are different enough from each other to warrant different approaches. However, teaching through RPG - and I have no less than 7 kids (youngest 7) and 5 adults on spectrum, myself not counted, in my groups - only works if social stuff is NOT constantly pushed down their throats. And definitely do never ever make XP based on social stuff. It will backfire.
I suggest two approaches, which could be done simultaneously or separate. First, pick a world that is, from the social settings, relatively simplified. A few kingdoms, easy to remember personalities as a lot of us can't do names - or faces - well. It's easier to remember Faron as the king with the black beard and short temper than having to remember fancy names and complicated social backgrounds. Later, you can widen the perspective, let's say by letting them find out why the king is short tempered (teaches reasons behind emotions) but that will probably take a while. Keep social situations generally simple at first, i.e. you have to be polite to get help at the temple, and you have to be respectful to the rulers, that kind of stuff. Very slowly add to it, and question where needed, i.e. why they think the knight just felt insulted by what someone else has said, which would ideally not be them as it is kind of easier to learn from the mistakes of others than to admit mistakes.
As part of the social learning experience, make a set of questions for them to fill out after the game. They need to know that this is part of their class and that without them making effort here there will not be any gaming for long but you might find they might enjoy it. Questions I include are anything from multiple choice to writing a paragraph or two. Also, make it clear that there are no wrong answers as such, it is for them to describe their own impressions. Then set some time aside to discuss the how and why of their conclusions. Don't ask too many "how do they feel" question in the game itself. It distracts from the story. Unless, of course, one of the students has a very bad memory for emotional situations. Also make sure they know that what their PCs feel doesn't have to be what they feel. This is very important, in my experience, as often spectrumites will think about what they are SUPPOSED to feel first after a lifetime of being told they feel the wrong things and so the PCs' emotions might be closer to what they feel than they want to admit at first.
To make this successful, you will have to include certain NPC interactions which do not have to be relevant to the story. For example, let them witness a fight breaking out over an insult one session and a bar fight over basically nothing the next. Ask about both, and their differences. The goal would be for them to realize that one fight was emotionally motivated (justified or not) but the other was just because some people were too drunk to control themselves. There are a lot of social situations you can put in and ask about without their characters having to be involved.
Another important thing, don't go too moral where their characters are concerned. Either give them pregens for their first adventure or let them be whatever they want to be, including evil PCs. In the latter case, they will find out that playing someone evil does not mean to be able to do everything they want lest they want to be hunted down. I would actually use pregens in this case, PCs with flaws they could easily identify but aren't related to their issues too much. This is kind of important because none of us wants to be reminded of our real selves too much when playing.
Second approach, build a setting with them. For them to learn about how a world works, and for you to know how they think it should work, helped a lot with my kids. You can add social aspects as needed, but they would be able to influence the cultures, so it is entirely possible they would create an all Aspie culture based on themselves.
I could write a lot more about this but have little time right now. I would very much like to know how this works out, though.
Never believe just because we are not able to express it well or recognize needs in others, we have no empathy. That's about the biggest BS psychologists have spread around. Also, we are different but not defective. The way some educational goals are set and how young spectrumites are dealt with by the school system can be totally against their nature and what they would really need. It is too bad that not all of them are helped to Aspie forums where they could get advise from the older generation.
I don't know their IEPs and what each of them is supposed to learn. I'm guessing though, based on my family and friends on spectrum, that they are different enough from each other to warrant different approaches. However, teaching through RPG - and I have no less than 7 kids (youngest 7) and 5 adults on spectrum, myself not counted, in my groups - only works if social stuff is NOT constantly pushed down their throats. And definitely do never ever make XP based on social stuff. It will backfire.
I suggest two approaches, which could be done simultaneously or separate. First, pick a world that is, from the social settings, relatively simplified. A few kingdoms, easy to remember personalities as a lot of us can't do names - or faces - well. It's easier to remember Faron as the king with the black beard and short temper than having to remember fancy names and complicated social backgrounds. Later, you can widen the perspective, let's say by letting them find out why the king is short tempered (teaches reasons behind emotions) but that will probably take a while. Keep social situations generally simple at first, i.e. you have to be polite to get help at the temple, and you have to be respectful to the rulers, that kind of stuff. Very slowly add to it, and question where needed, i.e. why they think the knight just felt insulted by what someone else has said, which would ideally not be them as it is kind of easier to learn from the mistakes of others than to admit mistakes.
As part of the social learning experience, make a set of questions for them to fill out after the game. They need to know that this is part of their class and that without them making effort here there will not be any gaming for long but you might find they might enjoy it. Questions I include are anything from multiple choice to writing a paragraph or two. Also, make it clear that there are no wrong answers as such, it is for them to describe their own impressions. Then set some time aside to discuss the how and why of their conclusions. Don't ask too many "how do they feel" question in the game itself. It distracts from the story. Unless, of course, one of the students has a very bad memory for emotional situations. Also make sure they know that what their PCs feel doesn't have to be what they feel. This is very important, in my experience, as often spectrumites will think about what they are SUPPOSED to feel first after a lifetime of being told they feel the wrong things and so the PCs' emotions might be closer to what they feel than they want to admit at first.
To make this successful, you will have to include certain NPC interactions which do not have to be relevant to the story. For example, let them witness a fight breaking out over an insult one session and a bar fight over basically nothing the next. Ask about both, and their differences. The goal would be for them to realize that one fight was emotionally motivated (justified or not) but the other was just because some people were too drunk to control themselves. There are a lot of social situations you can put in and ask about without their characters having to be involved.
Another important thing, don't go too moral where their characters are concerned. Either give them pregens for their first adventure or let them be whatever they want to be, including evil PCs. In the latter case, they will find out that playing someone evil does not mean to be able to do everything they want lest they want to be hunted down. I would actually use pregens in this case, PCs with flaws they could easily identify but aren't related to their issues too much. This is kind of important because none of us wants to be reminded of our real selves too much when playing.
Second approach, build a setting with them. For them to learn about how a world works, and for you to know how they think it should work, helped a lot with my kids. You can add social aspects as needed, but they would be able to influence the cultures, so it is entirely possible they would create an all Aspie culture based on themselves.
I could write a lot more about this but have little time right now. I would very much like to know how this works out, though.
