Building Social Awareness in Autistic Children and their Peers Using Minecraft®

Minecraft® provides an ideal space for children of all neurotypes to learn and develop social awareness. The game makes exploring concepts like perspective-taking and communication fun, and it quickly provides common ground for both structured group and playground conversations. This new edition shares everything you need to know about setting up and running a Minecraft Social Group that supports both autistic children and their peers, with each session plan focusing on a different aspect of social development, like cooperation, persistence, and accepting difference - all aimed at helping kids to build lifelong skills. It has been fully updated with neuro-affirmative language and principles, including an age-appropriate exploration of the double empathy problem (the idea that communication is a two-way street, and those who aren't autistic need to make adjustments just as much as those who are). With over 100 pages of downloadable session plans and handouts, this manual makes it easy for professionals to use Minecraft to help children develop their social awareness and feel more confident with communication.