How chess can help people with autism!
Chess can help children and young people who are on the autistic spectrum, in various ways. This has been my direct experience, and this is backed up by research.
I have a specific interest in teaching people on the spectrum. I have 2 nephews who have autism (and anxiety) and while they haven’t learned chess, they are one of the reasons why I am motivated to help in this way.
From a local schoolteacher where I have been coaching pupils:
“He worked with a few children with an ASD diagnosis or presenting with ASD-type behaviours. Watching them play with Gavin was lovely to see. All the children loved learning the game but that was secondary; with Gavin, they showed their best selves. He listened and followed their cues and they responded so that lovely conversations sprung up. I could tell that they felt safe and heard and also special. Soon, the buzz got around Year 5. Children were begging me if they could do chess with Gavin”
Social chess
“Teaching chess to these students has very little to do with rules of the game, it is much more about their development.... For those that have great difficulty in making new friends and holding a social conversation, they have just discovered a whole new world or people that they can interact with safely!”. From https://www.schooldaysmagazine.com/how-chess-can-help-children-who-have-autism
And Richard James puts it well when he says, ”It wasn’t the game of chess itself but its ability to make connections between people that helped them”….getting to know the children as children, not just as chess players. Chess for schools, R James: p43. P48: The function of social chess is to make connections between people…its about every child in the school benefitting.
By using chess to make children happier, healthier and more connected it might also improve their academic performance. Its about children making new friends through playing games. Its about helping children who are struggling…”
It is obvious to me when I manage the chess club at school that the kids love to be together while playing the game. There is a wonderful excitement as they wait to be let in, a palpable energy. And when they are playing, they are enlivened and focused.
Increased awareness of others
Chess develops the ability to see from someone else’s perspective.
To predict what another person will do next, a player must develop the ability to adopt another person’s perspective and infer what action they are likely to take. Chess makes you understand that there will be consequences to every move you make on the chess board. https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-playing-chess#develops-perspective
I played with G… at a local school, a boy with emotional and psychological difficulties. What became clear was that the board and pieces were a link to our contact altogether, and that learning the game of chess was secondary to that empathic connection. He was enjoying connecting and breaking the rules a little. I was feeding a raisin to his knight, and he joined in, feeding it to other pieces. And he seemed happy, smiling. I went on to ask him about what his superpower might be. And he said to fly.
Another boy pointed out a “safe area” on the chess board”. This may have been his way of expressing certain needs.
Children with autism have a few barriers while communicating.
Since chess involves anticipating what the opposite player is going to do next, it can add perspective to a child’s personality as well. Understanding another person’s perspective is important while communicating, and chess would help a child on the spectrum build on that perspective. Perspective - https://chessklub.com/chess-and-children-with-autism-spectrum-disorders/
Increased cognitive functioning
Experiments revealed that, chess leads to improvement in cognitive functioning (as chess improves attention, memory, organization skills and perception). It improves the ability of cognitive-impaired individual to work on issues related to orientation, sensory stimulation and environmental awareness.
http://www.drsubida.com/2015/05/chess-health-benefits.html
Emotional regulation
The fact that chess is a game, and not real, enabled the patient to exert some conscious control over his feelings and thus learn to master them to a limited extent.
Chess games aim at well-being in the fullest sense; their goal is nothing less than complete personal victory or development in defeats, the creative unfolding of the potentialities that are contained in the analysis of the games played, whether won, lost or drawn.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_therapy /
Chess can help build a person’s patience since the game involves sitting for long hours and focusing on the board the entire time. Chess would serve as a great activity for children on the spectrum to practice sitting for long periods, which can also be incorporated into other activities in their lives.
Coping with loss
Healthy competition is necessary for any sport since every sport teaches you to deal with winning and losing. Understanding how to deal with loss can be difficult for children on the spectrum.
Chess helps inculcate the capability of a child to cope with loss. https://chessklub.com/chess-and-children-with-autism-spectrum-disorders/
1 – Chess makes you understand actions and consequences
Rule 1: Have a reason behind every move you make
Rule 2: Always think, “If I go there, what’s going to happen next?”
These rules apply to real life.
2 – Chess teaches you to take responsibility
There is no-one else to blame for bad decisions you make.
3 – Chess makes you confident and boosts your self-esteem
4 – Chess teaches you patience
Taking time to make a move can translate into life.
Taking time to make a decision can reap rewards
5 – Chess forces you to see the other person’s perspective.
Why did they make that move?.
Chess teaches you to think about the other persons motives, their aims and agendas.
6 – Chess teaches you how to cope with failure.
7 – Chess relieves anxiety
Chess has a map right in front of your eyes
8 – Chess helps you make friends
9 – Chess can uncover your inner genius
https://autisticnotweird.com/10-reasons-for-chess/
Studies show that this acquired ability to cope with stress and failure is carried far beyond the board’s 64 squares. Those who play chess are likely to discover how much they learn about an opponent through their choices on the board, and these insights serve as valuable tools in therapeutic settings.
https://premierchess.com/chess-pedagogy/chess-therapy-for-autism
Chess Therapy for Autism: By Rob Bernstein, Founder of RJB Educational Services
If you want to understand a child on the autism spectrum, you need to understand how his mind works. We can observe this in how the child plays games. Is he obsessive, inflexible, or impulsive? Is he considerate of others? Is he fair? Does he have to win? Is he a good looser? Does he want to learn? Does he take criticism well? Does she like to think? Does she like to figure things out? Does she appreciate her opponent’s terrific move? You get the idea.
As complicated as the mind is, chess can be reflective of many of its variations. The game is sophisticated enough to give me insight into how the person’s mind is working.
https://treatmentmagazine.com/chess-as-therapy/
If you have any comments or questions, do leave me a message.
Thanks!
Gavin
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