Game on: Inclusive Social Emotional Learning for LA Students

K-12 STEAM education

East LA San Gabriel Valley San Fernando Valley County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Currently, 1 in 22 kids in California is autistic, higher than the 1 in 31 kids on the national level. Neurodivergent youth are more susceptible to isolation, depression (4x), and suicide (10x) compared to neurotypical peers due largely in part to social difficulties. While many state bills have passed to ensure services to students with disabilities are uninterrupted (AJR 7) and require public schools to include inclusive practices and universal design for learning (AB 1938), the professionals who support these students lack quality tools to teach them social-emotional skills. The current special education teacher shortage is also worsening these issues. We’ve attended local Community Advisory Committee meetings with special education teachers and parents of neurodivergent children, and have learned that their schools are struggling to find resources and don’t know how to support their neurodivergent students with their social and emotional learning (SEL) skills.

Our proposed project is an expansion of Social Cipher’s 3 pronged approach to promoting inclusive social emotional learning, student inclusion, and student wellbeing. We currently have an existing product that is used by over 200 schools and therapy centers around the world, but want to make a difference in our local Los Angeles communities through offering:
Free Community Professional Development Workshops: Social Cipher’s Professional Development series is designed to equip educators with the knowledge, tools, and strategies to create inclusive, supportive environments for neurodivergent learners, particularly students with ADHD and Autism.
School-wide scholarships for Student inclusion and SEL through play: Our game Ava is a series of 2D platforming adventures starring an autistic young space pirate. SEL themes are woven into each game module, each of which focuses on a core SEL competency. In addition, our accompanying curriculum for each module focuses on additional skills that neurodivergent children need to thrive, in addition to the standard SEL skills.
Inclusive game design education: Classrooms who participate in using Ava during their school year will get the opportunity to meet the Social Cipher team and playtest new features that have not been added into the game. This gives students a unique opportunity to see the process of creating a video game and hear from the neurodivergent members of our game team.

Success in this project will mean improvement in teacher/student relationships in classrooms, an increased sense of belonging for neurodivergent students, and improved inclusion and solidarity between neurodivergent/neurotypical students. Local LA districts will be better able to accomplish their inclusion goals and remain state compliant. With the rising number of students diagnosed with learning disabilities, teachers and students need to be equipped with the social and emotional skills to shine in Los Angeles in 2050.
Our team recently conducted playtests with a local special education classroom in Pasadena. While playing, a student named Noah was excitedly commenting on the game and following along with the story. Afterwards, his teacher commented that Noah has been struggling a lot in school, and was happy to see him ‘acting like himself again.’
Our goal is for all students in LA county to feel this way: seen, understood, and better able to be their authentic selves.