Games that "work": using computer games to teach alcohol-affected children about fire and street safety.
A quick computer game can lock in fire and street safety for young children with FASD.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team built two computer games that look like simple video worlds. Kids pick avatars and walk around streets and kitchens.
They tested the games with children who have fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Each child played alone at a desktop computer.
The games taught fire and street safety rules. After each lesson, staff checked if kids could say the rule and do it in a real room or real street corner.
What they found
Children learned the safety rules fast. They could name stop, drop, and roll, and they looked both ways before crossing.
The skills stuck. Weeks later, kids still used the rules in real places, not just inside the game.
How this fits with other research
Wright et al. (2011) looked at 30 other studies and found the same thing: you can teach street crossing in class, on the curb, or with VR, but only if you add real-road practice. D et al. used VR first and added real-road checks, so the result lines up.
Taylor et al. (2017) gave autistic teens VR driving lessons. Like D et al., the game group beat the no-game group. Both studies show VR works across ages and diagnoses.
de Moraes et al. (2020) saw a twist: autistic youth learned real motor moves better after VR practice than after real practice. D et al. did not test VR-only vs real-only, so we still need that head-to-head trial.
Why it matters
You can swap boring flash cards for a short game and still hit your safety goals. Load the game on any PC, run it for five minutes, then walk outside and test the skill. The study gives you a ready-made script: game first, real-world check second, follow-up a week later.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Unintentional injuries are a leading cause of death and disability for children. Those with developmental disabilities, including children affected by prenatal alcohol exposure, are at highest risk for injuries. Although teaching safety skills is recommended to prevent injury, cognitive limitations and behavioral problems characteristic of children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder make teaching these skills challenging for parents and teachers. In the current study, 32 children, ages 4-10, diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and partial FAS, learned fire and street safety through computer games that employed "virtual worlds" to teach recommended safety skills. Children were pretested on verbal knowledge of four safety elements for both fire and street safety conditions and then randomly assigned to one condition. After playing the game until mastery, children were retested verbally and asked to "generalize" their newly acquired skills in a behavioral context. They were retested after 1 week follow-up. Children showed significantly better knowledge of the game to which they were exposed, immediately and at follow-up, and the majority (72%) was able to generalize all four steps within a behavioral setting. Results suggested that this is a highly effective method for teaching safety skills to high-risk children who have learning difficulties.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2007 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2006.07.001