Kilo24 said:
It is an interesting article. I've always found autism to be an intriguing condition.
I would be curious to learn what types of games he gravitates towards. From my limited knowledge of autism, the difficulty of discerning significant stimuli is a major component; some of the more detail-oriented yet less aesthetically focused games like some of the bigger scales of wargames or ASCII games like Dwarf Fortress might be fairly interesting to him when he's older.
Different people have different degrees of trouble with different kinds of stimuli. My son isn't particularly sensitive to smells, for instance, but some autistic people are. And sensitivity to something can sometimes cause kids to seek that kind of stimuli -- for instance, many autistic people are sensitive to kinesthetic/vestibular input (movement), so they engage in what we call "sensory-seeking" behavior like rocking, swinging, spinning, etc.
Pearce seeks out visual and auditory stimuli more than other types, so he likes games with good visuals, like _Spore_ and _The Sims_. However, _Wii Music_ has hit the top of his list since I finished this article because he really digs being able to change the sound of his favorite songs. He was really into into _Super Mario Galaxies_ for a while, and if you haven't heard the soundtrack for that, you should -- it's got a full orchestra behind it and the score is fantastic.
Re: aesthetically focused games, Pearce is one of those kids who can pick his favorite toy out of a cluttered toy box without any trouble at all. Similarly, animal psychologist and autistic adult Temple Grandin has said that when she was a child, she never could understand the "hidden picture" puzzles because she immediately saw all the hidden images, but it took longer to figure out what the main picture was supposed to be. As a result, Pearce likes to play _Guitar Hero_, but I get the sense that he doesn't notice the stage, the crowd, or the band (and to be honest, neither do I). He can't play by himself yet, but if I do the fret work he can keep the rhythm pretty well.
Did that answer your question at all? I could write whole books on autism and I don't want to over-explain myself. But I'm more than happy to answer questions or direct interested parties to more information on autism in general or some of the resources I mentioned in my article (like the ALF).
I'm curious if there are any readers on the autism spectrum who would care to comment on how games have impacted their lives, if at all.