XBOX 360

Does anyone know of any research that has been done into the benefits and detriments of the use of an XBOX 360 by a child on the autistic spectrum. My son has been given one by his older brother which he has had for a while and it has lots of age appropriate games. In a matter of days he has mastered its use and his gaming skills are most impressive. The challenge is that given the choice he would play it to the exclusion of everything else. On the one hand I do not want to stop something he really enjoys and gives him great pleasure yet on the other hand I do not want him to be playing XBOX360 to the exclusion of everything else.

  • I have a 12 year old just diagnosed and xbox/ipad/phone all seemed to be attached to him like an umbilical cord. I am starting to realise that playing this stuff does actually help to destress him. I have always been anti these devises and my son and I have fought over him playing these and well, the meltdowns if he loses are immense - controllers thrown against walls, the discs are left everywhere....

    I once implemented something when he was younger call Screen Time Reward and basically I gave him a huge list of things he could do and each one earned him screen time, which could be spent on a screen of his choice. WOW, he was making his bed every morning, even teeth cleaning, homework etc, he was so motivated it was astonishing, worked like a dream. Until he turned 10.5 and he just said NO, refused to do it !!

    My son now is only allowed to play fri / sat / sun, however since the diagnosis he is allowed 1 hour after school and I find it really helps to get all the stress and anxiety out from his day at school and actually makes him alot nicer, calmer and more intersted in talking.

    H

  • Hi there, My 12 yr old son also has an xbox and an ipad which he is on pretty much most of the time, should i be reducing the time he is on it? even though when i do ask him to turn it off his mood seriously deterioraes and his younger brother and myself usually have to face the fallout, I dont have a problem with him playing games but could it be detrimental to his health? I also find that by allowing him to play games he is able to divert his anger/frustration into the game rather than myself or his younger brother especially after school. Any advice on this would be much appreciated.

    Thank you in advance

    Diane

  • Hi Stopthenoise,

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    Thanks,

    Kalliopi Moderator

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  • Myself and my wife are in a similar position with our son (3) , he loves the Ipad and in particular Angry Birds, at first this was great becuase it calmed him and gave him something differant from other things but now we are having to schedule in use due to him only wanting to be playing it you know ?

    It does have benefits as I said previously, it is great to calm him down in situations where he is very anxious and does help with things such as shopping etc, but for me personally (a heavy tech user :) ) I like to restrict use in favor of other things.