Saturday, October 11, 2008

A wii Victory!

I never thought I'd be so excited over a video game! We've spent a lot of money in the last year on wii games hoping Michael would play them appropriately. Unfortunately, he spends most of his time fussing with the menus, and little time actually playing the game. Today, we introduced him to the Active Life Outdoor Challenge game. He actually played!! He spent well over an hour playing the Whack a Mole and Timber Trail games!!

Now, I know that even with kids on the spectrum, playing video games isn't all that big of a deal. But, if you remember my post a couple days ago, Michael has a LOT of body awareness issues. For him to see the mole, figure out where to stomp, and then stomp the mole before it disappears… it's HUGE!! And, he really likes the game, even though it's challenging for him.

The other game he likes is a timber trail game. You basically run in place and jump over logs that come rolling toward you. Sometimes he finds it more funny to crash into the log than jump over it. But, sometimes he actually wants to get a good score. He's never played a game 'to win' before. So, I'm just extra excited about that.

He's still nervous about new games, and covers his ears a lot at the music. But, I'm still so happy that he found two games to play. There are probably a dozen more that he's afraid to try, but we'll get there!

2 comments:

Autismland Penny said...

Woohoo! Go Michael! I love the Wii for Logan. a couplr of great games are Endless Ocean (they explore the ocean with no fear of dying) and any of the Lego games as they don't die in them either so they can't lose. Love the sports ones too to work on motor skills.

Renee said...

Thank you! I will definitely have to look into them. It's so nice when he actually plays appropriately, instead of just fussing with the menus. If I can extend that to more than just the mat games, the wii will be much more fun!