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69´«Ã½ with significant cognitive differences—such as autism spectrum disorder—often face isolation, anxiety, and depression. Many would like to engage in the same activities as their neurotypical peers but often have limited ability to join the basketball team or sing in the school choir.

But Morris-Union Juncture Commission, a specialized school district in central New Jersey, has hit on an activity that many students with ASD and similar disabilities can participate in alongside general education kids, and even community groups: esports.

The district offers expertise in special education to its 30 member districts, and serves its own population of about 225 students with significant learning challenges. At the suggestion of Evan Abramson, the district’s technology director, Morris-Union Juncture used a $50,000 grant to build a 12-seat esports arena, specially designed for students with cognitive and behavioral challenges, particularly ASD. Abramson believes it may be the only such facility in a school district in the country.

Meet the Leader

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Evan Abramson, the director of technology and innovation at Morris-Union Juncture Commission, in Warren, N.J., on Jan. 15, 2025. Abramson spearheaded an esports program to help students on the autism spectrum connect with one another and learn new skills. The gaming arena where students play together may be the first-of-its-kind in the country.

Michelle Gustafson for Education Week

Classroom Technology Leader To Learn From This Tech Director Is Revolutionizing Special Education With Gaming

Alyson Klein, February 3, 2025

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12 min read

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Education Week spoke with Abramson, a 2025 EdWeek Leaders To Learn From honoree, about how his district built the arena and how the students it serves are benefitting from esports. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Does gaming offer any educational benefits for students with significant cognitive challenges?

We’re building up the soft skills. We’re teaching them empathy. We’re teaching them teamwork, critical thinking. A lot of [people] don’t really believe that these kids can do that, but when they play games, they can. They have to think through a problem and help each other out.

Rocket League is our number one game here, which is kids driving around and playing soccer, right? It’s not a shooter game. It’s three on three. So, our kids will play against each other. They’ll play three together versus three together. When you hear these kids who are sometimes either nonverbal, have never spoken before, all of a sudden, are communicating with kids on their team, you’re scratching your head, ‘oh my, where did that come from?’

It’s really eye opening to new staff too, that these kids can do these tasks, and they can work together, and they are empathetic.

It’s gotten to the point where our teachers are starting to feel comfortable saying, ‘this is a really great opportunity for these kids to be kids and to learn these [softer] skills that we’ve been trying to teach forever.’

What kind of adaptive equipment did this arena need to make it work for your student population?

We built the arena specifically for these kids. There’s a company called vSEVEN and they have keyboards that are fully washable. They’re dishwasher safe.

Instead of just a typical controller... we needed it to be bigger and heavier and bulkier, right? So, our kids couldn’t smash things. Microsoft built one [for high-end gamers] but it could be adapted for kids with fine-motor challenges. They had already designed it. We were essentially their first adopter in a school. Nobody with special needs had ever tried the controllers.

Do you have any similar experiences for younger students?

We created... an esports training lab. It’s for our kindergarten through 5th graders, so they can get used to playing. They play Mario Kart, and they play against each other and with each other. They’re having fun but they’re talking to each other. There really is nothing better than to watch these kids grow from a social emotional perspective, do things a lot of people just never thought that they were capable of.

You’ve brought in community groups to come play against your students, right? What’s come from those experiences?

We’ve had the Warren, N.J., police department, [local] EMTs, the Warren public school kids. When they see our kids, they’re like, ‘oh they might look a little bit different sometimes, or they might act a little bit different, but they’re just kids playing video games.’

We’ve gotten a lot of just incredible feedback from the Warren public schools [a nearby district serving mostly general education students]. They say, ‘Thank you so much. Can we bring our kids back again?’ They’re really excited to come back and play, and that’s never happened here before, right? Where the gen ed kids want to come back and play with our kids. There’s no better feeling.