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It links board-game play to self-determination theory by emphasizing competence, autonomy, and social relatedness, which can increase intrinsic motivation and learning. The article reviews how board games can foster cooperation, turn-taking, social deduction, and improved social outcomes, and it offers recommendations for introducing board games in special educational settings.",{"@graph":69,"@context":121},[70,84,104],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":35,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/weve-all-come-together-a-board-gaming-approach-for-working-with-autistic-people/591988/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":98,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":99,"interactionStatistic":100},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/weve-all-come-together-a-board-gaming-approach-for-working-with-autistic-people/591988.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Mabel","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":101,"interactionType":102,"userInteractionCount":8},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":103},"ViewAction",{"@type":105,"mainEntity":106},"FAQPage",[107,113,117],{"name":108,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":110},"How do the authors explain board games supporting social development for autistic people?","Question",{"text":111,"@type":112},"They describe board games as a naturalistic, collaborative setting that encourages joint attention, turn-taking, cooperation, and social deduction, helping players practice social skills in a structured way.","Answer",{"name":114,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":115},"What theoretical framework the paper connects to board-game learning outcomes?",{"text":116,"@type":112},"It links board-game benefits to self-determination theory, highlighting the needs for competence, autonomy, and social relatedness as drivers of intrinsic motivation and improved learning.",{"name":118,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":119},"Why do the authors suggest board games may be useful compared with traditional interventions?",{"text":120,"@type":112},"They argue board games are engaging and motivating while offering practical, repeatable practice that can be conducted at home or with peers, supporting independence and learning without requiring constant trained supervision.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":123,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":125,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":127,"site_id":62},591988,1792079466,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":130},{"doc_id":127,"user_id":131,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":132,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":133,"file_id":134,"file_url":135,"file_type":136,"file_size":137,"view_count":8,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":138,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144},7971474920318,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/74000ee537e6b0ca360?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1788430171632181674","“We’ve All Come Together”  \nA Board-Gaming Approach for Working with Autistic People  \n•  \nGray Atherton, Emily Dawson, and Liam Cross  \nThe authors discuss how board games offer individuals with autism (who often struggle with social settings and require structured outlets for building relationships) an affordable, naturalistic, collaborative environment that is stimulating, engaging, and educational. Board games, they assert, provide opportunities to practice social skills, including cooperation and social deduction, essential skills for both neurotypical and atypical people. The authors include recommendations for introducing board games into special educational settings. Key words: analog games; autism; board games;  \ndevelopmental disabilities; interpretive phenomenological analysis; social cohesion; special education; theory of mind  \nIntroduction  \nBoard games have been around for more than four thousand years, with evidence from at least 2500 BCE documenting the Royal Game ofUr (Finkel 2007). What we know as modern board games are distinguished by their engaging mechanics, decreased reliance on chance, increased strategy and player interactions, stronger narratives, and more intricate components (Cross et al. 2023) . In the past couple of decades, modern board games have seen a huge increase in popularity. In 2017 the global board game market was worth more than $7.2 billion, and in 2020 alone, the market grew by 20 percent as the world turned to other methods of entertainment during the COVID-19 pandemic (Tighe 2022) .  \nBoard games take many forms but often have the same core principles in their design. They are played around a shared space, requiring joint attention and an acceptance of shared rules, and they involve turn taking, cooperation, and reciprocal interactions (Hofstetter 2021) . Board games are designed to be  \n97  \nAmerican Journal of Play, volume 16, number 1 © 2024 by The Strong  \nContact: Liam Cross [at drliamcross@gmail.com](at drliamcross@gmail.com)  \nentertaining and engaging while simultaneously building skills such as time management, strategy, cooperation, and teamwork. They may offer a more natural, cost-effective solution to common interventions to enhance cognitive and social development. For example, many modern board games have high replayability, allowing for prolonged practice and engagement (Greenwald 2022; Walton and Ingersoll 2013). Much replayability comes from the randomization inherent in modern board games, which allows for new strategies, meaning that game play time increases and players achieve better value for money spent (Hammar and Persson 2022) .  \nThe ability of board games to improve social outcomes is linked to selfdetermination theory. Self-determination theory promotes the psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and social relatedness (Mekler et al. 2017; Ryan and Deci 2002; Sailer and Homner 2019) . Fulfillment of these needs heightens intrinsic motivation (Ryan and Deci 2002) and promotes improved learning (Ryan and Deci 2000) .  \nDevelopmental Disabilities and Board Games  \nDevelopmental disabilities characterize a group of individuals who may experience physical challenges and challenges in the areas of learning, language, and behavior, resulting in a need for specialist health and education services (Boulet, Boyler, and Schieve 2009) . Recent data on U.S. households suggests that 17 percent of children aged three to seventeen have a developmental disability (Zablotsky et al. 2019). Board games have been previously used to help bolster skills for autistic individuals and those with intellectual and other neurodevelopmental disabilities (Atherton and Cross 2021; Campbell 2008; Standen and Brown 2005) . We use the term autistic individuals in this article because it was preferred in a recent survey of the autistic community by its thirty-five hundred participants (Kenny et al. 2016) .  \nBoard games offer advantages over traditional learning strategies because the","cbCaiv8xP1nBND7L","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiv8xP1nBND7L","pdf",179265,26,"English","# Developmental Disabilities and Board Games\n## Board Games and Theory of Mind","[{\"question\":\"How do the authors explain board games supporting social development for autistic people?\",\"answer\":\"They describe board games as a naturalistic, collaborative setting that encourages joint attention, turn-taking, cooperation, and social deduction, helping players practice social skills in a structured way.\"},{\"question\":\"What theoretical framework the paper connects to board-game learning outcomes?\",\"answer\":\"It links board-game benefits to self-determination theory, highlighting the needs for competence, autonomy, and social relatedness as drivers of intrinsic motivation and improved learning.\"},{\"question\":\"Why do the authors suggest board games may be useful compared with traditional interventions?\",\"answer\":\"They argue board games are engaging and motivating while offering practical, repeatable practice that can be conducted at home or with peers, supporting independence and learning without requiring constant trained supervision.\"}]","We’ve All Come Together - A Board-Gaming Approach for Working with Autistic People | PDF",1792073621,66]