Benefits of playing chess in youth with intellectual disabilities

Maxime, Ethan, Elisa and Angeline learned to play chess in just ten lessons in their classroom at the Villers Institute of Medicine. The facility, located five kilometers from Coulommiers in Saint-et-Marne, welcomes children and adolescents between the ages of 6 and 20, with or without an autistic disorder. Returning from vacation, the four young men resumed their places in front of the chessboard. “They haven’t played in a few weeks, we’ll start from scratch this morning.”, apologize to their teacher Jean-Francois Porscher with a smile. From scratch, that is, piece by piece, according to a method specially developed for this young audience that sometimes struggles to concentrate.

So the game begins with four checkers, which the older boys jokingly place on the chessboard. Absorbed, Ethan concentrates for a long moment and takes a deep breath before moving his piece while Maxim chatters happily in front of him;