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Over my 27+ career as a SLP I’ve worked with several kids & teens with Autism, ADHD and other special needs who became obsessed with a particular video game. The typical culprits are Pokemon, Mario, Angry Birds & Minecraft. When played in moderation video games can provide a stress relief outlet for kids with special needs. But for some kids it can become an obsession or even an addiction. When a kid or teen only wants to play, think about or talk about a particular game, then you know you have a problem. Well Minecraft Steve and his pals have attempted to take over another one of my patients. Minecraft has messed with the wrong speechie. This particular child and his family hold a very special place in my heart so I was determined to help.  Since this is a fairly common issue, I was shocked that I could not find any social stories online regarding appropriate use of video games. So I wrote one today using the Social Stories Creator for Educators app by Touch Autism. This particular child has an amazing knowledge of anatomy and chemistry well beyond what would be typically expected for his age so I used a few anatomy and brain chemistry terms to tie into that high interest area and help him see for himself why unlimited game play would not be a healthy choice for his brain. I even recorded voice overs for each page. I then sent it to myself in an e-mail both as a printable PDF and as a story that can be used within the app. Super excited that the voice overs were included when I imported the story onto my other iPad and that they could be edited on that second device (so anyone importing the story that I created will be able to edit the pictures, text and voice overs to fit that child’s unique needs).

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Download the free printable 10-page PDF at: Social Story – Learning Appropriate Use of Video Games – Minecraft

Image credits:

• Minecraft: https://www.wikihow.com/Break-a-Minecraft-Addiction

• The Neurology of Gaming (infographic): https://www.thefyi.org/the-neurology-of-gaming-infographic/

• Brain: https://azkurs.org/addiction-is-a-brain-disease.html

• Screaming child: clip art in Microsoft Word

• Good job smiley: clip art in Adobe

• Smart choice: clip art in Microsoft Word

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Follow these steps to access the story and view it within the Social Story Creator app:

1. If you don’t already have the full paid version of this app, then download the free version of the app on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id588180598
2. While on that iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, tap on this link: http://socialstorylibrary.touchautism.com/b48879a1-b082-4982-866f-a5c37c65db02 (Update 6/26/21, updated again 1/17/23. I created a new download link since the old was was no longer working. The share links must be time-limited so feel free to send me a message on my OMazing Kids Facebook page if this link no longer works. I’ll be glad to create a new one as needed)

To download this story you must have the Social Story Creator app installed and then you must click on the link from your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.

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This social story app is very easy/intuitive to use and many of my patients are highly motivated by anything presented on the iPad (seriously I could show them the same story in printed format, read it to them and might not get much of a response but somehow recording my voice and presenting the same social story via the iPad got a very different response…. Shhhhh….. don’t tell the kids that it’s Mrs. Angela inside the iPad…. lol!).

See my full review for this fabulous social story making app at:  https://omazingkidsllc.com/2017/07/12/app-review-social-stories-creator-for-educators-by-touch-autism/

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Angela Moorad, MS, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Founder of OMazing Kids, LLC – inclusive wellness & educational activities for kids of all abilities
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Angela Moorad is the founder of OMazing Kids, LLC and is an ASHA certified & licensed pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist and Kids Yoga Teacher with over 27 years experience working in a variety of settings (early intervention, schools, teletherapy & a nonprofit pediatric rehab hospital for children with developmental disabilities). She is an app beta tester for educational & therapeutic app developers and loves sharing info about great apps, products, books & toys to use with kids of all abilities.