Story

How Dungeons and Dragons gives Perkins students a fresh way to learn skills for a lifetime

Dungeons and Dragons uniquely supports kids with disabilities to practice social, communication, and academic skills, outside the classroom.

Brook listens to a classmate and holds a large dnd die.

Every week, an animated stream of students find their way to the Grousbeck Center at Perkins. Tonight is Dungeons and Dragons (DND) night! Buzzing with excitement, the players gather around the table and prepare to play. They are eager to unravel last session’s cliffhanger. The story begins at a crossroads: players must either give up their gold or battle a group of bandits so they may help the disguised Queen escape the city. What happens next is all up to a roll of the dice.

At this table everyone is different, and everyone belongs. “

Observer

Jake’s character sheet is in braille, Madeline asks Siri to roll dice, and everyone needs to say their name before speaking. It’s one of the best feelings of belonging you can imagine. A few Perkins staff are close by, ready to act out scenes, answer questions, and make sure the students have fun.

Perkins hosts 200 students with multiple complex disabilities on its campus each year, reaches 1,200 students in Massachusetts, and over 1 million children around the world. Being infinite innovators, our educators are always looking for new ways to unlock learning opportunities. This is where Dungeons and Dragons comes in. 

How DND started at Perkins

At the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020, students and staff struggled with low morale and motivation to socialize. Alex Aguilar-Thomson, a Lead Job Coach at Perkins, felt this impact and decided to bring a personal hobby to school to help ease tension. “Some of this was for me,” he said. Alex began preparing Dungeons and Dragons sessions for interested students as Perkins’ first Game Master (GM).

Student and player Doryan Lockett describes their character's next move while staff and students listen intently.

DND is a story-building game built by one person and one decision at a time. The GM narrates the story and guides the players as they interact with the fictional world around them. Almost immediately at Perkins, the students took to the fantasy world. Inventing a character, and engaging in a story were just the kind of whimsy the Perkins community needed.

Since 2020, the Dungeons and Dragons club has continued to grow, with up to nine active players and a few observers each week. It’s become a great place for students to find common ground and build friendships outside of class, something that is not always available to children with disabilities.

The theater of the mind

Dungeons & Dragons is a game that expands and changes quickly. It requires a lot of flexibility, creativity, back up plans, and multiple Perkins staff to keep the story going — Alex Aguilar-Thomson (Job coach), Matt Rutkowski (TVI), Connor Mahoney (T.A), Hannah P. Luparia-Oboyski (T.A), and Haley Blakemore (TVI). Their preparation and ingenuity shine through each session as they build a fictional world in the theater of the mind for students.

A unique element of our game is that we have multiple GMs! This creates an even more immersive experience. Matt describes each scene in vivid detail. The smell of campfire, the coolness of night, and the ever present feeling of danger surrounding the characters. The other GMs move around the space using different voices and improvised sound effects to create a sense of adventure. Different sensory experiences make the game more accessible for low vision and blind players while enhancing the overall story telling. 

Acting the part

Alex lowers his voice to a gruff southern drawl while he stomps towards the table with heavy foot falls.

“You start a fight with us? I wrecks ya ride!”

Players giggle and shake their heads as Alex rolls a large purple dice… Success! His troll character rips off the door of the hero’s carriage. The response of our hero inside?

“Would you like some hot chocolate? You look upset.”

GM Connor walks around the table while players take their turns.
GM Haley laughs from their chair while holding a laptop.
GM Hanna squats in a chair while acting out the game's narrative.

Sharing the spotlight

In contrast to their peers, kids with complex disabilities often miss out on activities and gatherings that help build social skills. Personalized opportunities to learn and practice communication, sharing attention, and patience are incredibly important. DND is the perfect way for kids to practice proficiency because it’s built around collaboration and communication. While having loads of fun, they’re also practicing skills they’ll need for a lifetime. 

[At the table] you get to see a side of students you otherwise wouldn’t get to see.”

Alex Aguilar-Thomson

A student from a previous class had difficulties with his speech volume. “He was a soft talker in real life, but loved bringing different voices to the table,” said Alex.  He was able to bring the skills he learned in speech therapy to the game. With that extra practice in a low stakes environment, he really brought up his speaking volume by the time he graduated. What a difference!

Everyone at the table is practicing a skill of some kind. Students share tools, tech, and advice freely. Game night is where their kindness and consideration really shines through.

How Perkins makes Dungeons & Dragons accessible

The DND club has incorporated tools and techniques to make the game accessible for everyone at our table.

Student moves marbles from one paper cup to another.

Tracking health points with marbles

Usually health points are tracked using mental math or a pen and paper. Our students use paper cups and marbles instead. When their character loses or gains health points, the player moves that number of marbles from one cup to the other. This is a tactile way to interact with the game that adds to the immersion while helping students practice math skills and sensory efficiency skills

A close up of a person reading a 3D printed braille 20-sided dice.

Accessible Dice rolling

For students with varying visual and motor impairments, there’s no shortage of dice rolling options. Players and GM’s utilize digital dice, enlarged dice, and virtual assistants (like Siri or Alexa). GM Matt even 3D printed a large braille 20-sided dice!

Binders containing braille character sheets.

Braille Character Sheets

We also have braille character sheets. Usually, DND players keep a page of their characters history, skills, and abilities. Some students will use a braille character sheet to practice their braille literacy and reading skills.

My goal is to make it feel like their in-game decisions matter. So much is decided and scheduled out for them.”

Alex Aguilar-Thomson
Player Madilyn Welch describes her character's actions while sitting at the game table.

Making moves

All these tools support the heart of playing DND — decision making. With every choice, students build confidence, develop a sense of agency, and learn to anticipate consequences. 

One session, after defeating a monster, the players took the claws home to use as decor. A few sessions later, GM Alex brought the claws back into the story to teach the impact choice — out of nowhere the claws began hopping around and causing all sorts of shenanigans for the adventurers.

Reflecting on this moment, Alex commented: “Everyone matters. If something’s not working for one person, it’s a team effort to help. Social, emotional, academic, whatever it may be. We have a collaborative approach to problems.”

Where will the adventure take us?

As new students arrive and others move on, we hope the club continues to be a place where students can be their uninhibited selves, create friendships, and strengthen the skills that make a difference in their lives. We can’t wait to see where our adventurers end up next.

If you’d like to know more about the DND club and other fun programs at Perkins, follow us on social media!


Editor’s note: We’ve opted to use the acronym “DND” as opposed to the trademarked ampersand. This is to allow screen readers to access the page without difficulty.

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