Board Games as a Teaching Tool for Young Children with Special Needs: An Evidence-Based Review

The Six Potentially Relevant Empirical or Practice-Based Studies

• Core Literature on Young Children and Special Needs

  • Trimlett et al. (2022) researched teaching board game play to young children with disabilities. An ERIC record shows it is a journal article published in January 2022, spanning 14 pages.
  • "Teaching Young Children with Special Needs and Their Peers to …" investigated the effects of a least-to-most prompting procedure on board game step performance and game-related on-task behavior for children with special needs and their typically developing peers, using a concurrent multiple baseline design across participants.
  • "An Empirical Examination of Effective Practices for Teaching Board …" examined an intervention package using peer modeling, systematic prompting, and contingent reinforcement to improve board game play and social behaviors in four young children with or at risk for disabilities, alongside their typically developing peers.
  • A Taiwanese study, "An Exploration of Board Game Applications in Teaching Young Children with Disabilities in Taiwan," searched using keywords like "board games," "young children," "disabilities," "preschool," and "developmental delay," focusing on children aged 3 to under 7 with developmental delays where researchers used board games for teaching.

• Supplementary Literature from Special Education

  • Wang Yu-Chi's master's thesis explored integrating board games into a social skills training curriculum to improve social skills and peer acceptance attitudes among elementary students with mild intellectual disabilities in a resource room.
  • "Integrating Board Games into a Social Skills Curriculum to Improve Social Skills and Peer…" indicated that a board-game-integrated social skills curriculum had immediate and maintenance effects on "turn-taking," "appropriate responses to others," and "cooperation" for students with mild intellectual disabilities.

Literature Review: The Application of Board Games in Teaching Young Children with Special Needs

1. The Significance of Board Games as a Teaching Medium for Young Children with Special Needs

When participating in group activities, young children with special needs may require adult assistance to understand activity flows, follow rules, wait their turn, respond to peers, and maintain focus. Board games, with their concrete materials, clear rules, turn-based structure, and opportunities for peer interaction, can be designed as a structured teaching medium for these children.

International studies show that board games can serve as a direct subject for teaching play participation skills. The study "Teaching Young Children with Special Needs and Their Peers to …" investigated the effects of a least-to-most prompting procedure on the board game step performance and game-related on-task behavior of children with special needs, employing a concurrent multiple baseline design across participants. This research demonstrates that children's board game participation skills can be taught through systematic prompting procedures, and that game steps and on-task behavior can be key observation targets.

Similarly, research by Trimlett et al. (2022) focused on teaching board game play to young children with disabilities; an ERIC record notes this as a journal article published in January 2022. The critical contribution of this literature is that it treats "knowing how to play a board game" as a teachable skill in itself, not just a supplementary activity. Therefore, in teaching young children with special needs, educators must not only select appropriate games but also design clear instructional steps, prompting strategies, and reinforcement systems.

Taiwanese literature also indicates that board games are part of the conversation around teaching young children with disabilities and developmental delays. A study titled "An Exploration of Board Game Applications in Teaching Young Children with Disabilities in Taiwan" conducted a literature search with keywords like "board games," "young children," "disabilities," "preschool," and "developmental delay." The inclusion criteria specified that participants must be children aged 3 to under 7 with developmental delays, and researchers must have used board games for teaching. This synthesis shows that a foundation exists for the application of board games in this context in Taiwan, though there remains room for further empirical research.

2. Board Games and Social Skills Instruction

Common social interaction challenges for young children with special needs may include turn-taking, appropriate responses to others, cooperation, following rules, and expressing needs. Board games, which require participation from multiple players and usually involve taking turns, waiting, adhering to rules, and responding to others, are thus well-suited for social skills instruction.

The study "An Empirical Examination of Effective Practices for Teaching Board …" tested an intervention package including peer modeling, systematic prompting, and contingent reinforcement on young children's board game and social behaviors. The participants were four young children with or at risk for disabilities, who participated alongside their typically developing peers. This suggests that board game interventions can be designed as peer interaction settings where children with special needs can practice social behaviors.

In Taiwanese special education literature, the integration of board games into social skills curricula has also been used to improve interaction abilities. A study by Wang Yu-Chi explored how incorporating board games into a social skills training curriculum could enhance social skills and peer acceptance for elementary students with mild intellectual disabilities in a resource room. Although the participants were elementary students rather than preschoolers, the instructional logic—using board game scenarios to practice turn-taking, responding, cooperation, and peer interaction—serves as a useful supplementary reference.

Another paper, "Integrating Board Games into a Social Skills Curriculum to Improve Social Skills and Peer…," pointed out that board game-integrated social skills curricula had immediate and maintenance effects on three target behaviors for students with mild intellectual disabilities: "turn-taking," "appropriate responses to others," and "cooperation." These results support board games as a medium for social skills training, particularly for designing specific, observable target behaviors.

For young children with special needs, board game activities can transform abstract social skills into concrete behaviors. For example, "turn-taking" can be practiced through drawing cards, rolling dice, or moving game pieces; "appropriate responding to others" can be practiced by answering a peer's questions, accepting a peer's actions, or announcing game results; and "cooperation" can be practiced through cooperative board games or joint tasks. Thus, board games can serve as an engaging and structured intervention activity for social skills instruction.

3. Board Games and Attention, Rule-Following, and Game Participation

During board game activities, young children with special needs may struggle with taking turns in sequence, staying in their seats, impulsively handling materials, failing to understand rules, or being unable to sustain participation. Consequently, board game instruction is not merely about letting children "play a game" but involves explicitly teaching them how to participate in one.

The research focus of "Teaching Young Children with Special Needs and Their Peers to …" was precisely on board game step performance and game-related on-task behavior, using a least-to-most prompting procedure for intervention. This study, designed as a concurrent multiple baseline across participants, illustrates that board game participation behaviors can be systematically observed and taught. This has practical significance for preschool teachers, who can break down a board game activity into small steps—such as "waiting," "listening to the rules," "waiting for one's turn to manipulate pieces," "completing assigned steps," and "responding to a partner"—and provide prompts based on the child's abilities.

Taiwan's "An Exploration of Board Game Applications in Teaching Young Children with Disabilities in Taiwan" notes that board game interventions can enhance emotional cognition, emotional regulation, and learning willingness in children with special needs, and can reduce the frequency of emotional behaviors. The literature also indicates that board game interventions can improve a child's ability to perceive and express their own and others' emotions, and, with teacher guidance, to express needs and solve problems. These outcomes suggest that board games can promote not only cognitive or social skills but also serve as a teaching context for emotional regulation and problem-solving.

Therefore, board game instruction for young children with special needs should prioritize "game participation skills." Teachers can use visual aids, rule cards, turn-taking cards, modeling, peer prompting, and reinforcement strategies to help children gradually understand the flow of the game. If a child is not yet able to participate in a full board game, teachers can initially shorten the playtime, reduce the number of rules, minimize competitive elements, or switch to cooperative games to increase the child's opportunities for successful participation.

4. Board Games and Inclusive Education

Within inclusive education settings, young children with special needs typically require more opportunities to interact with their typically developing peers. With clear rules, shared materials, and specific interaction goals, board games can serve as a medium for promoting peer interaction in inclusive classrooms.

The study "Teaching Young Children with Special Needs and Their Peers to …" included both children with special needs and their typically developing peers, investigating the effects of a prompting procedure on board game step performance and game-related on-task behavior. This research demonstrates that board game activities can be arranged for collaborative participation, with adult prompting used to facilitate engagement.

Similarly, "An Empirical Examination of Effective Practices for Teaching Board …" included young children with or at risk for disabilities and their typically developing peers, testing the effects of peer modeling, systematic prompting, and contingent reinforcement on board game and social behaviors. This study supports the use of board games as a context for peer interaction interventions, allowing children with special needs to observe, imitate, and respond to their typically developing peers within a play activity.

Thus, the value of board games in inclusive education lies not only in improving the individual skills of children with special needs but also in creating opportunities for shared activities with peers. If teachers can choose board games with simple rules, moderate duration, and clear interaction demands, and assign typically developing peers as play partners, it can help enhance the sense of participation and interaction opportunities for children with special needs.

5. Teacher Intervention Strategies and Instructional Design

Whether board games can be effectively applied in teaching young children with special needs hinges on the teacher's ability to transform game activities into targeted, procedural, and assessable teaching plans. Simply allowing children to play board games freely may result in continued difficulty with understanding rules, waiting turns, or maintaining participation. In contrast, pairing the game with explicit prompting, modeling, and reinforcement makes it far more likely to be an effective teaching medium.

International studies often utilize systematic intervention strategies. "Teaching Young Children with Special Needs and Their Peers to …" used a least-to-most prompting procedure to teach board game steps and on-task behavior. "An Empirical Examination of Effective Practices for Teaching Board …" used an intervention package of peer modeling, systematic prompting, and contingent reinforcement to increase children's board game and social behaviors. These strategies can be translated into concrete practices for the preschool classroom, such as having a teacher or peer model an action first, then providing a verbal or gestural prompt, and finally giving specific feedback when the child participates successfully.

Taiwanese literature also shows that board games can be applied to teaching emotions, communication, and problem-solving. The exploration of board game applications in Taiwan indicates that interventions can reduce the frequency of emotional behaviors and improve a child's ability to perceive and express their own and others' emotions. The same source notes that with teacher guidance, board games can improve a child's ability to express needs and solve problems when experiencing an emotion.

Therefore, when designing board game instruction, teachers can adjust the following elements based on a child's ability:

• Rule Complexity: Start with core rules and gradually add advanced rules.
• Wait Times: Shorten the time for each turn, or use turn-taking reminder cards.
• Prompt Types: Use verbal prompts, gestural prompts, picture prompts, and peer modeling.
• Interaction Goals: Clearly set target behaviors such as "taking turns and waiting," "responding to peers," "following rules," and "expressing needs."
• Assessment Methods: Use observation records, video analysis, or frequency counts of target behaviors to evaluate a child's progress.

6. Summary and Connection to the Present Study

In summary, the application of board games in teaching young children with special needs holds at least three significant meanings. First, board games can be a medium for teaching game participation skills, including understanding rules, acting in sequence, maintaining focus, and completing game steps. Second, they can serve as a context for social skills instruction, allowing children to practice turn-taking, appropriate responses, cooperation, and peer interaction. Third, board games can be a tool for emotional regulation and problem-solving, helping children perceive and express emotions, reduce emotional behaviors, and, with teacher guidance, express needs and solve problems.

In relation to the present study, board games can be viewed as a form of "structured play intervention." If the research focus is social skills, one can refer to the domestic and international literature, using turn-taking, appropriate responses, cooperation, rule-following, and peer interaction as observational indicators. If the focus is game participation, one can refer to international studies that emphasize board game step performance, game-related on-task behavior, and prompting hierarchies as assessment priorities. If the focus is on emotions and communication, one can refer to the Taiwanese synthesis on board game teaching for young children with disabilities, incorporating emotional perception, emotional expression, need expression, and problem-solving abilities into the analysis.

There are clear limitations in the current literature. First, based on the provided sources, the number of publicly available Chinese-language studies that perfectly meet the three criteria of "young children with special needs," "board games," and "empirical research" is limited. Second, some Chinese-language studies focus on elementary-level students with special needs, and while they offer supplementary insight into board game applications in special education, they cannot be fully equated with research on young children. Third, if a Chinese-language thesis or practice article does not provide a verifiable DOI, the formal reference should list verifiable source information according to your institution's guidelines, rather than fabricating a DOI.

References

Author(s). (Year). Teaching Young Children with Special Needs and Their Peers to …. PMC. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4711729

Author(s). (Year). An Empirical Examination of Effective Practices for Teaching Board …. ERIC. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1182948.pdf

Trimlett, G. M., Barton, E. E., Baum, C., Robinson, G., Schulte, L., & Todt, M. (2022). Teaching Board Game Play to Young Children with Disabilities. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 24(1), 32–45. ERIC Number: EJ1321083. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1321083

Author(s). (Year). 桌上遊戲融入社會技巧課程對提升智能障礙學生社會技巧與同儕 … [Integrating Board Games into a Social Skills Curriculum to Improve Social Skills and Peer…]. NDHU. https://rc052.ndhu.edu.tw/var/file/89/1089/img/722409699.pdf

Author(s). (Year). 桌遊應用於臺灣身心障礙幼兒教學之探討 [An Exploration of Board Game Applications in Teaching Young Children with Disabilities in Taiwan]. NTCU Special Education Center. https://spc.ntcu.edu.tw/storage/media/1t0BDxFZXsxRtV6YIQMVZdsNEATGOZjIKP7ySGSp.pdf

Wang, Y.-C. (Year). 桌上遊戲融入社會技巧課程提升國小輕度智能障礙學生社會技巧與同儕接納態度之研究 [Study on the integration of board game into social skills courses to improve the social skills and peer acceptance attitude of students with mild intellectual disability]. National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Taiwan. https://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/cgi-bin/gs32/gsweb.cgi/login?o=dnclcdr&s=id%3D%22108NTHU5284002%22.&searchmode=basic

(Note: Some citations lack full author names or DOIs in the provided source metadata. You will need to complete the APA references using the original documents. For sources without a DOI, use a direct URL or format according to your style guide.)