It is one of the very first -- if not the first -- book written by someone with an inside perspective of Autism.

Again, thank you all for your support. It is very much appreciated.

And thank you for sharing about your son as well.

My wife is an ESE teacher, specializing in ASD. Through her I became aware of, and educated to, the mayhem and mystery surrounding children with Autism. As a lifelong gamer and frequent user of Home, I became very curious as to how children with ASD of varying levels responded to both video games as well as Home. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there have been no studies done so I’ve relied only on my own observations of about half a dozen people with Autism that I know of who use such technology, as well as stories I hear from parents or guardians like yourself.

From my observations, it seems that children (and adults, for that matter) on the higher end of Autism (much like your son) seem to be drawn to video games…and become very, very good at them. One of my Home friends, as an example, has a teenage child with high function Autism who uses Home and is an avid gamer; he says that the kid is a video game genius who’s abilities with a controller far surpass mere mortals. While I’ve been told his frustrations get the better of him in real life from time to time, he’s a great kid, and lots of fun to hang out with in-Home…you would never know he was anything more than a “normal” teen.

Another teen with Autism who I’ve spoken with uses Home regularly. He does have some trouble interacting with people in the ‘real world’, but you’d never know this the way he interacts with others in Home. He’s able to focus in on conversations far better when looking at word-balloons on his TV screen than in real life. I asked him what the difference was to him between talking to people in real life and on Home, and his reply was something along the lines of, “I’m just able to SEE people better on here, so it’s easier to talk to them”.

There is also the celebrated case of a woman who is non-verbal, but is able to use chat rooms and her computer to express herself to others (her name escapes me at the moment, but she has some videos on YouTube when she explains, via her keyboard, what it’s like to be autistic…a fascinating watch).

Clearly there are indications that many people with ASD are able to utilize gaming technology (whether games or virtual worlds) to not only help them communicate with others, but to also enrich their lives. Hopefully, some work will eventually be done in that direction; it seems to me that the use of such technology might be a viable tool of communication for those with ASD. This makes me wonder what the in-Home population of those with ASD currently is. I expect the number to be higher than many would think.

Thank you again, Terra. Your article sheds some light on a subject that I believe need more serious consideration for the Autism community. Just remember…when Lance gets older he WILL destroy your best scores in an awful lot of games :>