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An excellent strategy that can engage all students is gamification. Specially in the ages of 4-8. Gamification is about applying game elements to non game setting or content. Students can earn or loose points or badges. Assignments can be completed as quests in partners or groups.

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Gamification can be implemented digitally or physically. Its primary purpose is to motivate and engage students to complete assignments, and tasks and, by doing so, meet their behavioral and learning goals. According to Stuart Chaffoo, gamification can make learning less intimidating for students with different learning needs. Students with ADHD can focus on small goals at a time. Also, “studies have shown that children who struggle with autism see an improvement in motor, behavioral, and communication skills by using gamification” (Stuart-Chaffoo, 2022). Gamification can also reduce anxiety test taking levels by making an assessment feel more like a game. (Stuart-Chaffoo, 2022).

Stuart-Chaffoo, E. (2022). Why gamification helps children with special educational needs. Night Zookeeper. https://www.nightzookeeper.com/blog/articles/why-gamification-helps-children-with-special-educational-needs#:~:text=Because%20collaborative%20gamification%20involves%20teamwork,communication%20skills%20by%20using%20gamification

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Finding creative ways to keep children interested in learning is a challenge faced by teachers and parents alike. It becomes even more challenging when those children suffer from special educational needs. Luckily, the education sector has begun to embrace a much broader range of techniques and strategies that are more suitable for and inclusive of children who may need to learn in a different way. Gamification is a learning technique that is useful for all students, but can be particularly beneficial for children who struggle with traditional learning methods.

What is gamification?

Gamification is a learning strategy that employs game-based elements, such as point scoring, implementation of goals/targets, and competition among students. Gamification can be used alongside other learning methods or stand-alone, just as our program here at Night Zookeeper can. Through these game-based elements, children become highly engaged and motivated to continue to learn. To learn more about gamified learning, we encourage you to read a recent blog post of ours: " What is Gamified Learning? ".

What are special educational needs?

Whilst gamification is beneficial to almost all children's learning, it has been specifically proven to assist students who are struggling in the classroom due to special educational needs (SEN). Special educational needs can affect a child's ability to learn and can hinder their ability to read, write, socialize, concentrate, understand things, and more. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, which collects and analyzes data related to education in the U.S. and other nations, 15% of all public school students ages 3-21 received special education services in 2020-21. Because many students struggle with SEN, it is important to find learning strategies that work well for them, one of which is gamification.

How can gamification help my child who struggles with SEN?

1. It can cater to your child's specific learning needs

Classroom-based learning and strategies that are used in classrooms do not work perfectly for every student. Gamification can be specified to meet the needs of any student, which is one of the reasons it can help children with special educational needs. In fact, according to a 2018 study, gamification is even more favorable in the field of special education because SEN students have more personalized needs than children without SEN. Making education methods more tailored to a student's needs makes education much more accessible, which is crucial for students with SEN. Ensuring a student's learning style is catered to will lead to greater academic success.

According to a 2016 study exploring how gamification can motivate children with dyslexia and other special educational needs, gamification can foster motivation in children with dyslexia because of its highly customizable design paired with its pedagogically tailored appropriation by teachers. This finding is extremely relevant for children with dyslexia or other SEN because it demonstrates how crucial it is that gamification be customizable to fit every student's needs. Because of its flexibility, gamification can help students with many different special educational needs. The fact that gamification can be tailored to a specific student's needs is one of the reasons gamification is so appealing, especially for students with SEN. If you have a child with dyslexia or dysgraphia, you can read more about how to help them enjoy writing by reading the following article: " How you can help your child with dysgraphia or dyslexia to enjoy writing ".

2. Your child will demonstrate greater attention and focus

The same study done in 2018 found that greater attention was observed from students towards learning activities that contained some gamification in comparison with other activities that had no gamification at all. This is because students found gamified learning to be more attractive because they were playing without realizing they were also learning. Additionally, the Organization for Autism Research (OAR) believes that gamification can help the focus of children who struggle with autism. Focus can be a huge obstacle when learning new material for students with autism. Traditional lessons and activities may not be engaging enough for these students, but gamification is stimulating enough to help them maintain focus for longer.

For students that struggle with ADHD, Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder, gamification can be an extremely helpful tool to help with greater attention and focus. Because gamification uses reward systems, it can act as an external motivator for longer focus, which can be beneficial for children who have more trouble focusing like those who struggle with ADHD. A 2018 study about the effectiveness of gamification for students with ADHD notes that gamification is expected to generate motivation for any child, but that this motivation is not as natural for ADHD children. The study notes that gamification is also valuable for educating children to be better in terms of their learning and unfavorable behavior, such as hyperactivity and low attention span. This demonstrates not only how gamification can help with short-term attention and focus issues, but also how it can help modify undesired traits that some SEN students may struggle with. For example, parents of children with ADHD have successfully used the gamified experience of nightzookeeper.com to educate their children. We spoke to them about their experiences: " How Night Zookeeper has Helped Children with ADHD ".

3. It will help your child feel more motivated and engaged while learning

Students who struggle with special educational needs succeed from innovative learning methods, not always traditional ones. In comparison to students who do not struggle in the classroom, students with SEN need repetition in learning and more motivation. Gamified learning methods can be more engaging because of the creative approach they take in comparison to traditional learning methods. At Night Zookeeper, we try to encourage children through a mix of highly compelling visuals and music, intriguing character interactions, and challenging them to do fun, creative tasks like making their own characters.

Engagement plus high motivation is a powerful combination for learning. Gamification motivates children through the use of goals, levels, and achievements. For example, on nightzookeeper.com, children are encouraged to continue learning by being rewarded when completing certain tasks or learning goals. Rewards come in the form of making their characters stronger at specific skills, related to the skills practiced in the tasks and challenges-including drawing, reading, and writing. This makes the children that use our program excited to learn, to the point where they don't want to stop! Because gamification can provide students with higher motivation and engagement, the benefits received from educational content can increase in comparison to traditional learning techniques.

4. Your child will feel more comfortable in the gamified learning space

Gamification can be both a group and an individual learning strategy. The ability for it to be personalized and individual means that children whose conditions make socializing difficult are advantaged by using gamified learning experiences. Students who don't feel comfortable in their learning environment often are not able to learn as effectively as they would if they did feel comfortable. Gamification gives students who don't feel as comfortable with social interaction an opportunity to feel more comfortable while learning, which will, in turn, lead to more effective learning. Gamification employs social inclusion because students often feel more comfortable in gaming environments, especially when they don't feel comfortable in a traditional classroom environment.

Although gamification can be an individualized learning experience, some aspects of gamification do involve online socialization if students choose to participate in it. Our program at Night Zookeeper has the benefits of both an individualized and collaborative gamified learning experience. Students who use our program can focus on leveling up their learning on their own, but can also participate in leaderboard competitions with other students. Students can even make friends and read each other's writing, allowing for a more collaborative experience if they'd like one. The community aspect of our program is completely optional, but feels a lot less intimidating to students with SEN who aren't quite yet comfortable with socialization. Socializing and competing with other students online is a small step toward doing the same in-person.

5. Gamification can improve your child's social & communication skills and help them with self-identity

Gamified learning, as mentioned previously, can be an individual experience, but can also be collaborative and interactive. If used in a more collaborative way, it can improve the social skills of students with special educational needs. Because collaborative gamification involves teamwork, students can work together to attain specific objectives, which fosters an improvement in social skills. Additionally, studies have shown that children who struggle with autism see an improvement in motor, behavioral, and communication skills by using gamification. All of these skills can be positively impacted through the use of gamification in educational settings.

Furthermore, children who use programs such as nightzookeeper.com assume new in-game characters, enabling them to explore many aspects of their own personalities, using gamification as an outlet to explore themselves. This helps children who struggle with self-identity discover more about themselves. In any non-educational game, children assume different personas who have certain abilities, powers, and personalities. In a similar vein, children can assume the role of a student in an educational gamified learning setting. This is especially useful for students who can't socialize in typical classroom settings. Having a strong school-based identity can help children with SEN succeed in their learning and improve their social skills by feeling confident in their role as a student through gamification.

6. It can help with other mental health issues, such as anxiety

Mental health issues are also very prevalent among young children, which can often hinder their learning experiences. For example, test anxiety makes academic achievement and learning significantly more challenging. Test anxiety is an emotional state experienced by students concerning any assessments. It hinges on the fear of failure and can detrimentally impact students' self-esteem. According to a study done in 2019, gamification can help ease test anxiety symptoms. In this study, the teachers used a gamified method to administer an assessment, which significantly reduced her students' test anxiety symptoms. This is because the test no longer felt so anxiety-inducing and stressful because it felt more like a game. Gamification, because of its dynamic and engaging components, remains effective for learning, but can help reduce issues such as test anxiety that students struggle with. Students who struggle from test anxiety are able to demonstrate their knowledge through gamification where they were before unable to do so on traditional assessments. To read more about children who struggle with anxiety and how we think creative writing can help, check out this recent blog post of ours, " How Creative Writing Can Help Children with Anxiety ".

Conclusion

Students who struggle with special educational needs and mental health issues are at a large disadvantage from their classmates, but gamification can make learning a lot less intimidating than it seems. Gamification has a wide variety of benefits for all students, but can be especially helpful for children with special educational needs. At Night Zookeeper, we love gamified learning experiences and witness every day the power that gamification has to improve children's lives. Your child can experience it for free by starting a 7-day trial of nightzookeeper.com-check out our reading and writing program today!

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at [email protected] , or reach out to us on social media:

For further information on gamification and special educational needs, please refer to the sources below:

Gamification in Education: What Is It & How Can You Use It?

Students with Disabilities, May 2022

Integration of Gamification to Assist Literacy in Children with Special Educational Needs, April 20, 2018

Why is Gamification Effective for Autistic Students?, October 6, 2021

The Impact of Game-Based Learning in a Special Education Classroom, Summer 2020

E-Learning Based on Gamification for Children with Autism, February 2022

Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

When You Have ADHD and Need Motivation, Turn Your Life Into a Game, April 23, 2019

Using Gamification to Motivate Students with Dyslexia, May 2016

Gamification Based assessment: A Test Anxiety Reduction through Game Elements in Quizizz Platform, January 2019

The Gamification of Education and Cognitive, Social, and Emotional Learning Benefits, June 10, 2012

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Why Gamification Helps Children with Special Educational Needs | Night Zookeeper - Fantastically Fun Learning

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Gamification has been proven to be extremely beneficial to all children's learning, but is especially useful for children who struggle with special educational needs. Gamification can help students improve their focus, motivation, engagement, and more. Learn more about how children with SEN can use gamification to revolutionize their learning!

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Pros:

1. Boosts Learner Engagement.

2. Provides Instant Feedback.

3. IncreTases motivation.

Cons:

1. Take time to set up and up keep.

2.Game mode can become outdated.

3. May not attract the attention of some students.

Gupta, G. (2022). Pros and cons of gamification. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/pros-and-cons-of-gamification

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Recommendation of educational tools or multimedia. Grades 4-12

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Recommendation of educational tools or multimedia. Grades 4-12

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Classcraft is a platform that allows the teacher to set up classes as games where students create their avatars and earn points and badges for positive behavior and completing tasks. Students can trade their points or energy for rewards such as homework passes. Students can also lose points or energy and get teacher set consequences. Classcraft is an exciting way to get students excited about learning and being in school.

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Recommendation of educational tools or multimedia.  Grades K-3

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Recommendation of educational tools or multimedia.  Grades K-3

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Class Dojo allows teachers to connect with students and parents. With Class Dojo, teachers can award points to students and share special moment with parents. Its a great way to motivate students in elementary.

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ClassDojo helps teachers, parents, and students build amazing classroom communities.

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With the Active Learning Model, the teacher is a facilitator that presents experiences for students to discover and learn. With interactive lessons, teachers ask questions and guide student thinking. (University of Buffalo, 2022). The Notice and Wonder strategy is excellent for getting students to build critical thinking skills and come up with the problem and questions. With class discussion, students can share and listen to peer perspectives.

University of Buffalo. (2022). Delivery modes and teaching approaches. Office of Curriculum, Assessment and Teaching Transformation.

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Why and How is this strategy effective? 

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Why and How is this strategy effective? 

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Using Active learning strategies improves critical thinking skills, retention, and motivation. “Active learning engages students in the process of learning through activities and/or discussion in class. It emphasizes higher-order thinking and often involves group work” (Freeman et al., 2014).

The Notice and Wonder strategy, allows students to think critically and use creativity. Students can interpret a graph and tell the story the data tells. Or begin solving a problem by noticing patterns. With class discussion, everyone learns from everyone. Since there are no right or wrong answers with needs can celebrate as much or as little as they find necessary.

Freeman, S., Eddy, S.L., McDonough, M., Smith, M.K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., and Wenderoth, M.P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.111(23), 8410–8415.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.1319030111

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Pros:

1. Student engagement and motivation.

2. Involves trial and error. Students learn that making mistakes is part of the learning process.

3. Students are encouraged to participate actively and collaborate.

Cons:

1. Can be time-consuming.

2. Students could develop misconceptions.

3. Not all outcomes are predictable.

Drew, C. (2022). Active learning: Advantages and disadvantages. HelpfulProfessor.com

https://helpfulprofessor.com/active-learning-pros-cons/

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Recommendation of educational tools or multimedia. Grades 6-12

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Recommendation of educational tools or multimedia. Grades 6-12

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Desmos.com is a free and easy-to-use graphing calculator that offers lessons and activities for self-discovery and is perfect for active learning. Desmos provides inquiry base learning to create understanding. The platform allows students to easily exchange ideas between peers and teachers making it ideal for class discussions and strategies like I notice, I wonder.

https://knilt.arcc.albany.edu/Unit_1:_Benefits_of_Utilizing_Desmos_and_Desmos_Activity_Builder

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The Direct Instructional Model by Hunter includes seven elements:

Objectives, standards, anticipatory set, teaching, guided practice, closure, and independent practice. The Teacher uses various methods to lecture, model, or demonstrate.

The teaching part of the model can be done with videos, whether teacher-created or selected from youtube. During a meeting, the teacher can record pieces or the entire lesson and post them on the MLS of choice for students to view at their discretion.

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Why and How is this strategy effective? 

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Why and How is this strategy effective? 

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The direct instructional Model by Madeline Hunter is great for teaching routines, expectations, and content. Some content is best if students self-discover, and content the teacher needs to model to the students. With the direct instruction model, students can view the teacher's demonstration and practice with help and independently.

Students sometimes need to listen to the same lecture from a different perspective or presenter. Posting videos of the content, whether teacher created or picked, can help all students, especially absent students and students with learning needs. Videos are a great form of direct instruction that allows students to pause or fast forward, allowing students to learn at their own pace.

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Pros:

1. Direct instruction is efficient.

2. Very direct, with no room for misinterpretation.

Cons:

1. Loss of creativity.

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With project-based learning, the teacher becomes a coach or guide. Students are given a task where they must research, organize findings, create, and present. When students create artifacts, they demonstrate their learning with tangible demonstrations.

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Why and How is this strategy effective? 

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Why and How is this strategy effective? 

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Project-based learning allows students to learn actively instead of sitting and listening for long hours. With the teacher's guidance, students can complete the assignment at their own pace. Project-based learning is an alternative to quizzes and tests, which many students may find intimidating. By differentiating learning and assessments, students with anxiety may perform better. Since students work independently, the teacher may find more time with students requiring modifications and accommodations.

https://www.celt.iastate.edu/instructional-strategies/teaching-resources/teaching-strategies/problem-based-learning/project-based-learning-strategies/

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Pro:

1. Promotes student self-reflection

2. Students develop organizational skills.

3. Students develop communication skills.

4. Alternative to presenting in front of the class.

Con:

1. Students may find research difficult.

2. Students could develop misconceptions.

3. Some students can be camera shy..

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Loom is a great and easy recording app for any grade level that allows students to present projects. It is an excellent alternative to taking a quiz or a test. With Loom.com, students can demonstrate knowledge by creating artifacts and showing them in a video.

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Flip grade can be used at any level, but it is recommended for grades K--3. Students can find ways to save an endangered species of their choice, recreate their habitat, and use FlipGrid to record their outcomes to share with the class. FlipGrid is easy to use and includes colorful frames and emojis to liven presentations.

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For Grades K-12

What is so great about icebreakers is that they are perfect for every age level. Icebreakers are not only fun, they are necessary to build trusting teacher-student and peer-peer relationships. Teachers can pose a question or activity unrelated to the content to help students build rapport.

Lucid. (2022). What is an Icebreaker? https://www.lucidmeetings.com/glossary/icebreaker

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Why and How is this strategy effective? 

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Implementing Icebreaker activities can build engagement; when students are engaged, they learn more. Icebreakers help build communication and collaboration skills.

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Pros:

1. Can create a relaxed atmosphere.

2. Can aid with communication and teamwork.

3. Can engage students.

Cons:

1. Can be intimidating for some students.

2. Can be boring and have negative effects.

Marisa. (n.d.). Icebreakers. https://marisaicebreaker.yolasite.com/

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Slido.com

Slido.com is a tool that provides templates and ideas for icebreakers. Teachers can create polls, mood barometers, word clouds, would you rather questions, and much more.

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Recommendation of educational tools or multimedia. 

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Recommendation of educational tools or multimedia. 

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YouTube videos are a great way to get students engaged and learning. Sometimes students need to hear the same lesson from a different person or on their own. With selected YouTube videos students can learn at their own pace.

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During the lesson delivery, it is a good practice to record and post the video in google classroom or the MLS of your choice. This allows students to watch the recording and fill in the gaps they might have missed during class. Recording videos of instructions of complex assignments is also a good idea.

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Google Meet: Online Web and Video Conferencing Calls | Google Workspace

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Use Google Meet for secure online web conferencing calls and video chat as a part of Google Workspace.

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Depending on the sources, information varies on whether there is more engagement in a traditional classroom or an online environment. Some studies show that in the traditional classroom, there is more engagement. In contrast, other studies demonstrate no significant differences in engagement and outcomes (Butts et al., 2013). The teacher creates engagement differently, and there is no one way to do it. While some teachers find it easier to engage students in a face-to-face setting, engagement can also be acquired in an online classroom. Engagement strategies like think-pair-share can still be implemented with digital tools like google slides or Canva that allow students to share documents and collaborate.

Asynchronous collaboration can benefit students who are shy or need time to process and articulate an answer. In the synchronous environment, students can collaborate in real time, while in the asynchronous setting, students can choose the time to respond to a partner during the day. While feedback is not immediate, it does give students time to research and reflect on a response.

In whichever setting, the teacher sets the mood and expectations and creates a safe environment where students want to participate. With the appropriate tools and the right strategies, teachers can build engagement and cultivate learning.

Butts, F., Heidorn, B., & Mosier, B. (2013). Comparing student engagement in online and face-to-face instruction in health education teacher preparation. Journal of Education and Learning; Vol. 2, No. 2. doi:10.5539/jel.v2n2p8