What is Dungeons & Dragons™?
Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is a tabletop roleplaying game that was developed in the 1970's by Gary Gygax and David Arneson, now published by Wizards of the Coast (a subsidiary of Hasbro), that has recently become popular thanks to the television show Stranger Things. Many popular video games are directly based on D&D and many youth who enjoy gaming are already familiar with D&D, or aspects of it. However, unlike a video game, D&D requires no screen time and is a fully in person, social, pen and paper and dice based game that encourages the development of social skills, reading comprehension, mental math, critical thinking, executive function, attention, and spatial awareness. A small but growing evidence base shows that D&D groups can be extremely effective for improving social skills and engagement.
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Our D&D sessions are run by a Game Master (also known as the DM or Dungeon Master) who presents out a fantasy adventure story framework. The group is co-facilitated by a professional educator with extensive experience supporting youth with social emotional learning. Each player creates a fantasy character and make decisions individually and as a group about how they will achieve their goals and move through the story. Dice are used as part of the game to determine how successful players are in battle and in completing difficult tasks. Our stories include many opportunities for social engagement as part of a team, group decision making, spatial navigation using maps, solving puzzles, and combat. The game allows the group to collaboratively create a story while exploring their own identity through telling the story of their character.
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Watch a D&D game in the video below:
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How Our Groups Work
Getting Started
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We combine Dungeons & Dragons with neurodiversity-affirming, strengths-based educational approaches to create immersive group sessions that foster personal and social growth. Our facilitators have extensive experience working with neurodivergent individuals and actively encourage neurodivergent communication and self-regulation styles while maintaining a kind, respectful group environment. Our team also has deep experience working with culturally diverse families and incorporates each participant's cultural norms and values into sessions.
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Please note that while our facilitators are credentialed educators, Advantage Guild provides social skills groups and is not a clinical or therapeutic service.
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New group members or their parents have an initial meeting with one of our facilitators to explore strengths and challenges and arrange any necessary supports for the D&D sessions. The new group member will then meet with the Game Master and create their D&D character based on what they recognize as their personal strengths, weaknesses, and interests.
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Ability levels and accommodations
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D&D is linguistically complex. We can make accommodations to the language level of the game to suit the abilities of children age 7 or older. We can also accommodate a variety of developmental disabilities and needs, as long as the individual has no current physically aggressive or self-harming behaviors, is able to accurately respond (vocally or not) to spoken directions, and is able to read at at least a 4th grade level. Our staff has experience with AAC, and we would be delighted to include AAC users in our groups. We are happy to collaborate with an AAC specialist you are already working with.
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Playing the game
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We will place your child in a group of 4-5 individuals of similar age and language ability, and determine a schedule for sessions that works for everyone involved. We ask for a commitment to a monthly membership, which consists of 3 sessions per month, plus optional private monthly check ins with one of our facilitators. Our games are ongoing, so even if we do not have a new group starting, we may be able to incorporate you or your child into an existing group.
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During the game, our facilitators will support participants in exploring and practicing social behaviors in a structured environment with explicit rules and boundaries in place. This can be very beneficial, especially for individuals who feel socially anxious or frustrated by unspoken social rules. Our facilitators will track group member's progress during each session and will adjust the support provided to them based on their needs.
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D&D creates a low risk environment in which players can try out a wide range of actions and see their results, without having to face any serious real world consequences. Players will have many natural opportunities to practice taking the perspective of others, evaluating one’s own actions and choices, improving frustration tolerance, exploring and accepting challenges, creative expression, and developing creative problem solving, team building, and leadership skills. As a result of this freedom to safely explore through the game, player’s self esteem often improves, and they can learn to practice self-autonomy and self-advocacy outside of the game in their everyday lives as well.​ Our games also provide ample opportunities to practice verbal communication, active listening, and collaborative problem solving - skills that transfer directly into professional and classroom discussions and group projects.
