MIL-OSI Economics: Inclusive games can bring benefits to neurodivergent children

Source: Microsoft

Headline: Inclusive games can bring benefits to neurodivergent children

On February 8, 2025, Luis Otavio, co-founder of the Brazilian indie game publisher Hanoi Studios and developer of Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match, visited Centro de Apoio e Reforço Escolar (CARE), an inclusive support institution in Santo Andre, SP, Brazil. The studio introduced both the Board Game and the ID@Xbox Play Anywhere versions of Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match, as a support tool for the development of neurodivergent children.

Fernanda Mombelli, neuropsychopedagogue and owner of the institution, emphasized the importance of early identification of a child’s special needs. She also highlighted the key skills and educational stimuli that inclusive games provide for neurodivergent students.

As a new release in the genre, Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match helps develop attention, concentration, memory, focus, and planning skills, functions in which neurodivergent individuals often face greater challenges.

Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match is designed to offer a welcoming challenge to players, where the number of moves per level is not enforced, allowing for experimentation and problem-solving at your own pace. Check out what pedagogue and physical educator Alan Nobre had to say about this initiative:

“In early childhood education, we don’t aim for high performance. We want this to be the happiest moment of a child’s life, because we believe that a happy child learns more, develops more and that’s our main goal.”

Take a deeper look at how inclusive games benefit neurodivergent individuals.

A student with ADHD, anxiety disorder, stuttering, and socialization difficulties played the game, and Fernanda Mombelli documented and observed their engagement and learning process:

“Initially, with minimal guidance, the student quickly understood the objective of the game and demonstrated rapid progress through the early stages. However, upon reaching the intermediate stages, they encountered more complex challenges, which led to visible signs of anxiety, including stuttering. The game was paused, and the student was instructed to take a deep breath, observe, and click on each piece to explore the available paths before making a decision. With this structured approach, they gradually overcame their difficulties and continued progressing through the intermediate stages.

Additionally, when engaging with the board game version in cooperative mode alongside two educators, they expressed great enthusiasm, stating that they loved the game and wanted to play more frequently during the sessions. This response not only highlighted their enjoyment of the activity but also indicated significant progress in their socialization skills, attention, concentration, and sense of belonging. It was a truly rewarding moment for all of us.”

What does the future of inclusive games look like for Luis?

“I want to develop more games with inclusion in mind and make this initiative reach a wider range of educational institutes in Brazil”.

If you’re looking for more resources and tips for family gaming, visit xbox.com/family. You can learn more about what Xbox offers for families, including information about privacy and access to privacy tools, the Xbox Family Settings app and Community Standards.

Play Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match on Xbox and PC today! The game is available as an Xbox Play Anywhere game with cross save and Smart Delivery.