I already know what you’re thinking: what an absurd claim to make. But I’m being deadly serious when I say this. Please hear me out.

Firstly, cure might be a strong word, but going from 150% autism to 100% autism is, in terms of the impact on mine and my wife’s life, a cure. At 150% autism, my son kicks, screams and bites anytime he is forced to do something he doesn’t want to do. He’s nine years old. When my wife makes dinner and he’s asked to eat his vegetables, he freaks out (carrots, for some reason, are the worst – there is some research out there suggesting the colour orange is spectrum-aggravating, but who knows). When it’s time to brush his teeth, he goes insane, punching and kicking and flailing. The list of triggers is endless, and it’s been taking a toll on our family life for the past three years.

Fast forward to now, and the Nintendo Switch. Up until now, my son has never shown an interest in gaming. If anything, he’s shown a dislike. He hates Minecraft and Fortnite. It’s all the kids at his school talk about (normally I wouldn’t believe a word that comes out of his mouth, he once told me completely straight-faced that Sean Connery came into his school to do a talk on gun safety ((he only knows who Sean Connery is because he’s obsessed with the James Bond franchise, as some autistic children are (((obsessed with things, not specifically Bond)))))). Anyway, he hates having to sit and listen to kids talk about ‘orange justice’ and ‘the creepers’ when all he wants to do is talk about his favourite spy. He’d frequently come home incensed about not being able to contribute to the conversation. On a whim, I decided to pick up a Nintendo Switch. We don’t make a lot of money, but since my wife gave up smoking six months ago we’ve had a bit of extra income.

When I first brought it home he hated it. I hadn’t even opened the box yet, and already he was ranting about how it was for babies. But when I opened it up and inserted Super Mario Odyssey, he hung back timidly and waited. And when everything was loaded and booted up, what happened next was magic.
He begged me to play. I let him. Five hours later, he was still playing. It was incredible. After that I told him he had to take a break, and he said that was fine. That night, for the first time in two years, he brushed his teeth without complaint. This has continued since then, with things getting steadily better. His temper is fine, he’s polite, he’s always happy and enthusiastic and talking about how he’s going to collect all the moons. And next, he says, he wants to play Zelda.

Not only that, but his posture has improved, too, and the first thing he does when he comes home from school, before sitting down at the Switch, is clean his room. There are a few other oddities (he has taken to referring to himself as a lobster) but in terms of emotional stability, he is so much stronger. i’d just like to say thank you to those on here who recommended Mario Odyssey to me when I posted a while back, and encouraged me to make the purchase.

Happy gaming, friends 🙂