4 ms·

Tearful Mom Thanks Pokémon Go for Changing Autistic Boy’s Life

92 points by alexwoodcreates 10y ago

cplanas 10y ago
Pokémon Go cures autism, apparently. Well, maybe the one caused by vaccines.
- funkaster 10y ago
  Not at all what stated in the article... Just a mom's experience. The kid needed a stronger motivator to interact with other people, the game gave that motivation. There's lots of research on how videogames help kids in the spectrum, this is just more popular because it's pokemon. Edit: grammar
  - cplanas 10y ago
    As you say, this happens with many videogames and other kind of stuff: I remember the case of a child that started to interact with other children after watching Jurassic Park. He totally wanted to play and talk about dinosaurs. The article just tries to go aboard the Pokémon GO hype, in a particularly wrong way, IMO.
ybrah 10y ago
Clickbait title about a clickbait subject
- cphoover 10y ago
  what? How? it's an anecdote of potential positive benefits of a video game. I think it's interesting. The game has had a clear impact on this kid's life. Interested to see studies on the long term impact on children with autism playing this game. If there is any lasting impact on socialization.
  - breakingcups 10y ago
    I'll tell you how: SUMMARY: "Reading this will give you shivers." I mean it's nice to know and heart-warming and all, I just wish the journalist wasn't in-between.
  - devishard 10y ago
    > The game has had a clear impact on this kid's life. The game has been out for 8 days. So no, it has not had a clear impact on his life. > Interested to see studies on the long term impact on children with autism playing this game. If there is any lasting impact on socialization. Yes, that would be interesting.
    - dragonwriter 10y ago
      > The game has been out for 8 days. So no, it has not had a clear impact on his life. It can certainly have had a clear impact on his life in a short period (whether it is a durable and lasting impact is, of course, not going to be obvious in a short time.)
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
aaron695 10y ago
What a horrifically awful article that quite possibly is not even a true story. Awful awful stuff.
- Vraxx 10y ago
  Man, I mean I'm normally skeptical about anything I can find.. but what's the use in being skeptical about something like this? It's just a feel good anecdote from an excited mother. Even if the kid wasn't autistic and just had problems socializing, it's still an encouraging story..
  - charlesism 10y ago
    ...or shameless viral marketing. I start with a presumption of guilt if there's a product involved.
adeel4 10y ago
Like apple pie, its good. Also the app totally doesn't follow certain conventions of virality. No social graph imported. Love that fact that it's blowing up.
- pricechild 10y ago
  On Android it requested contacts permissions, as well as storage (and a couple of others). I denied them and it seems to work fine. Still...?
  - rschuetzler 10y ago
    Likely for future features. I'm sure social stuff will make its way in eventually.

cplanas 10y ago

Pokémon Go cures autism, apparently. Well, maybe the one caused by vaccines.

funkaster 10y ago
Not at all what stated in the article... Just a mom's experience. The kid needed a stronger motivator to interact with other people, the game gave that motivation. There's lots of research on how videogames help kids in the spectrum, this is just more popular because it's pokemon. Edit: grammar
- cplanas 10y ago
  As you say, this happens with many videogames and other kind of stuff: I remember the case of a child that started to interact with other children after watching Jurassic Park. He totally wanted to play and talk about dinosaurs. The article just tries to go aboard the Pokémon GO hype, in a particularly wrong way, IMO.

ybrah 10y ago

Clickbait title about a clickbait subject

cphoover 10y ago
what? How? it's an anecdote of potential positive benefits of a video game. I think it's interesting. The game has had a clear impact on this kid's life. Interested to see studies on the long term impact on children with autism playing this game. If there is any lasting impact on socialization.
- breakingcups 10y ago
  I'll tell you how: SUMMARY: "Reading this will give you shivers." I mean it's nice to know and heart-warming and all, I just wish the journalist wasn't in-between.
- devishard 10y ago
  > The game has had a clear impact on this kid's life. The game has been out for 8 days. So no, it has not had a clear impact on his life. > Interested to see studies on the long term impact on children with autism playing this game. If there is any lasting impact on socialization. Yes, that would be interesting.
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    > The game has been out for 8 days. So no, it has not had a clear impact on his life. It can certainly have had a clear impact on his life in a short period (whether it is a durable and lasting impact is, of course, not going to be obvious in a short time.)

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

aaron695 10y ago

What a horrifically awful article that quite possibly is not even a true story. Awful awful stuff.

Vraxx 10y ago
Man, I mean I'm normally skeptical about anything I can find.. but what's the use in being skeptical about something like this? It's just a feel good anecdote from an excited mother. Even if the kid wasn't autistic and just had problems socializing, it's still an encouraging story..
- charlesism 10y ago
  ...or shameless viral marketing. I start with a presumption of guilt if there's a product involved.

adeel4 10y ago

Like apple pie, its good. Also the app totally doesn't follow certain conventions of virality. No social graph imported. Love that fact that it's blowing up.

pricechild 10y ago
On Android it requested contacts permissions, as well as storage (and a couple of others). I denied them and it seems to work fine. Still...?
- rschuetzler 10y ago
  Likely for future features. I'm sure social stuff will make its way in eventually.