Board Games for Learning Disabled

Board Games for Learning Disabled

Learning disability experts report that children do not just learn in school or clinic environments. A child continues to learn at home as they practice what they have learned while interacting with their friends and family.

The home learning location usually feels like a more comfortable environment for learning and the child may feel less pressure to perform. The child can be more comfortable interacting with family members and peers than he or she feels with their teacher or other professionals.

Learning disability experts suggest that parents use board games as a way to provide a learning experience for their child in an informal, fun setting. Social skills can be reinforced as the game is played with family members and peers. Learning skills can be practiced in a relaxed environment with family members.

The aspects of building and implementing a strategy in games such as Mancala and Dread Pirate may be too frustrating for the learning disabled child. These games can instead be played without developing strategies. The games are fun for many children and can reinforce good social skills such as turn-taking and learning skills such as counting and reading.

Games for Social Skills

Social skills such as waiting for a turn, following rules and sharing are difficult to teach in a one-on-one situation between a teacher and a student. They can also be difficult for parents to teach since the child may feel the added pressure to perform correctly for the parent. Often these concepts become more relative, and thus easier to teach, when they are practiced by a child while playing a board game with a group of the child's friends.

Look for games with:

• Turns. Waiting for a turn teaches patience to "wait your turn" and how to pay attention.
• Dice. Tossing the dice, reading the dice and moving the correct number of spaces teaches how to follow directions.
• Game pieces. Placing game cards in their correct position on the game board and distributing game pieces to each player can help a child with problem solving and task completion skills.

Games to consider:

• Colorforms – color and shape recognition
• Candyland – counting, color recognition
• Clue Jr. and Clue – problem solving
• Monopoly Junior and Monopoly – turn-taking, counting, following directions on "Chance" cards, handling money and making change
• Sorry – turn-taking, patience

Games for Learning Skills

Learning reading, writing and math skills can often be very frustrating for a child. Playing a board game gives a child a fun way to practice skills they have learned:

• Counting skills can be reinforced by throwing a die and counting off the resulting move on the game board.
• Reading skills can be practiced by reading game cards and taking the appropriate action.

Games to consider:

• Jr. Boggle – reading and spelling skills
• Candyland – learning colors
• Chutes and Ladders – counting skills
• Monopoly Junior and Monopoly – reading and math skills
• Junior Scrabble and Scrabble – reading, vocabulary and spelling skills
• Trivial Pursuit – reading skills
• Battleship – counting and spatial relationships
• Chess – following directions and developing strategy

Selecting the Best Game

Picking the best board games for learning disabled children requires an understanding of the child's social and educational level, not just their age. If the game is too advanced, the child will become frustrated. If the game is not a challenge, the child may become bored and disinterested in playing. The age designation on a board game may or may not reflect your child's learning ability.

Discuss your child's particular needs with their teacher or care professional. They can help you select the best board game to reinforce the skills which your child is ready to learn. Toy company websites provide board game information including game descriptions and rules.