Wii in Special Education

We started our Wii project this month at one of my highschools. It has been amazing to watch! The students, who have moderate or severe cognitive disabilities (some physical disabilities also) have taken the Wii challenge and are cleaning up. Each student made their individual "mii" character - a cartoon likeness of him or herself complete with appropriate glasses, hair, etc. This was a great way to learn how to use the Wii remote to access items. We are playing this game as a part of our students' adapted physical education class. Some of the kids have played the game before, but most have not. The first day we introduced playing tennis, one of our students with severe autism who is minimally verbal got the highest score! Another student(who has cerebral palsy, is nonverbal, and has limited arm movement) was able to return several serves and got 15 points. By hooking the Wii to a projector and showing it on the wall of the gym we make the image lifesize. It is also incredible to see the patience that the students have when they are waiting for a turn - these are students who have great difficulty transitioning between tasks. We are watching for the reactions of the students who have severe physical and cognitive deficts. Even though they made need hand over hand assistance, the kids are smiling and visually attending to the action. We are investigating adapting the Wii remote for switch use to give these students more options. More updates later!