Game for Children with Special Needs

In this paper, the writer discussed how to use media game which can cure someone affected with autism. Autism itself is a disorder that affects the brain, so that patients have a difficulty to communicate and relate to others. There are several factors that cause the emergence of diseases such as autism, that is, genetic factors, psychological factors, as well as food poisoning during pregnancy. In this case, the writer interviewed one of the teachers at the center of therapist in order to find out how to cure autism by using media game. The writer expected that by using the media game, people can recover from autism.


I. INTRODUCTION
Autism is a disease that attacks the brain, so that the patient has interference while he/she communicates with others.The autism symptoms can be seen when a child has not been 3 years old yet.Someone with autism will show different communication disorder if it is compared to other normal people.
"The communication disorder can be divided into two types.They are verbal and nonverbal communication disorder.Verbal communication disorder suffered by the autistic one can be seen from the way he/she talks which means that he/she talks with no meaning.
Meanwhile, the nonverbal communication disorder suffered by the autistic one can be seen from the focus of an "eye contact" meaning that he/she do not have focused "eye contact" and he/she does not know the body language", said Indah Janti Susanto, S.Psi.
A person infected by autism should be given a therapy as soon as possible because the longer that person is not treated, the longer he/she be infected by autism and it means that the person will take a longer time in order that he/she can be healed.One of the therapies that can be carried out is "Applied Behavior Analysis" (ABA).
This therapy has been done for a long time.It can be done out by giving praise and a gift to the patients with autism.If the patients do properly the given instructions, patients are expected to give a positive response on the instruction given.This is a therapy which is most often used.In Indonesia, ABA therapy has been applied to cure autism.However, apart from the ABA therapist, is it possible to recover someone with autism by using game media?What kind of game that can be used as a therapist media for someone with autism?

II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Autism is a symptom in which a patient has a brain disorder, especially in the communication section.Because of that disorder, the patient gets a difficulty to communicate and associate with other people.Therefore, someone with autism needs to be given a therapy in order that he/she can recover.
Someone with autism should be given a further treatment quickly because the longer the patient does not get a therapy, the longer the recovery time that the patient should take.Indeed, to recover autism cannot be done in a short time; it needs several years.However, by applying a proper treatment, autism can be cured.One of treatments that can be applied is by using a game as a medium.
By using a game as a medium, it needs less of money meaning that the patient does not have to spend a lot of capital.

Levels of Patients with Autism
It is necessary to know in advance the level of autism before choosing an appropriate game for autism.Autism itself is divided into 3 levels.The first level is Mild.In that level, the patient has an autistic behavior without severe cognitive impairment.
Severe cognitive disorders itself is an ability to think and give a rational reason, including the process of remembering, assessing, orientation, perception and attention (Stuart & Sundeen, 1987).
The second level is Moderate.The patient, in this level, gets a severe cognitive impairment with a strange behavior.In common, there are many people with autism in this level.
The third one is Severe. in this level, the patient have to be assisted by other people while he/she are doing something simple such as eating and walking.

Types of game used for an autism therapy
A game has some considerable benefits for a child development.Not only training the motor, but a game also provides an education to children.Unlike the case of autism, they cannot play any games that they want.
There are certain games that are beneficial for the autism themselves.There are many games that can be used as a therapy for the children with autism.
The game itself includes training to remember, distinguish color, write letters and numbers, use a body language correctly, use an appropriate "eye contact", and communicate.
It might be easy for normal people to do such kind of activity, but it is very hard for the children with autism to understand and do so.A teacher interviewed by the writer said that it needs ten to fifteen repetitions to tell that this is red.It is very hard for them to understand it for they are in the moderate level.Moreover, if the children with autism is in the severe level, the teacher have to repeat more than tens of times.
To show that kind of color, the teacher uses a flash card.The flash card itself consists of a certain form and it has a color.According to the teacher, this kind of simple game is very effective for the patient with autism.
Besides that kind of simple game, there is a animated video that is beneficial for the children with autism.
The use of the animated video itself is to teach something which is related to communication and expressions such as laughing, being happy, being mad, and being sad and other expressions.
It is expected that this kind of animated video can give an example of how normal people act, for example, communicating with the teacher or other friends correctly.

III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The method used by the writer to get the information and data is through an interview.The writer conducted an interview with a teacher named Indah Janti Susanto, S.Psi in Terang Bangsa School at the center of therapist.In that class, there are thirty one students and fifteen teachers in which a teacher has to handle two students with autism.

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSION
We have discussed a simple game for recovering children with autism; then, the writer would like to discuss a game application that is beneficial for giving a therapy for the children with autism.
"Look At Me" is an application made by Samsung that is aimed to train an eye contact of the children with autism in order that when the children communicate with other people, they can make a good eye contact towards the one who asks a question.
The application itself is not only beneficial for the eye contact, but it also has an interactive camera that can be used for finding out someone's feelings such as mad, happy, and other feelings.
Then, the other benefit of that game application made by Samsung named "Look At Me" is that to train the patient of autism, so that the patient can communicate well with the one who speaks to him/her.This application has been tested on 20 children with autism.
The result of the research done by Samsung tomorrow shows that there are 60% of the students that can make a good eye contact with the interlocutor.
Not only making a good eye contact, but the children with autism also can understand and read the feeling and expression of the interlocutor.
Not only can contact the eyes of children with autism also can understand and read the mood and also the expression of feelings of the listener.
Moreover, "Look At Me" application can be downloaded in Playstore which is developed by a doctor and professor of Seoul National Hospital Bundag University in Korea and Department of Psychology in Yonsei University.

V. CONCLUSIONS
It has been a long time that autism appears in the community.Various methods have been applied to overcome the symptoms of autism.
A person with autism has applied some therapies started from ABA therapy, listening to music in order to know someone's feelings, and simple therapies such as using flash cards and puzzle to train the memory of someone with autism.
There is also a medical therapy to overcome the autism symptoms.However, the medical therapy to recover autism symptoms is not cheap.
As the time goes by, there are some developers who make a special application that is used for giving a therapy to someone who has an autism symptom.
A game application named "Look At Me" is one of free games which is made by Samsung for the people who have autism symptoms.It is proven through a survey conducted by Samsung tomorrow that there are 60% of children with autism symptoms can make an eye contact when they are making an interaction.Therefore, it can be concluded that by using any game media, the children with autism can communicate and make an eye contact well without spending a lot of money.
Using a game as a medium to recover autism without perseverance to practice is not effective.Thus, doing training continuously with perseverance is also influential in accelerating the recovery process of the autism symptoms.