The East Valley Education Center, an Oakdale private school for special needs children, has been making an effort to help its students come out of their shells and be more social by allowing them to play video games.
Pretty groovy, no?
Well, according to a CBS Sacramento report, some of these games are M-rated titles such as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
Yeah, probably not the best pick and to the surprise of no one, there has been a complaint. The parents of one autistic boy told CBS that their son had been acting angrily and even violent towards his sister.
“It can cause emotional distress,” said Kim Moore, the boy’s mother. “We had an appointment set up with the Assistant Superintendent Jose Adalco, but after driving for two hours he stood us up. However, in an earlier phone conversation, he told us the violent video games would no longer be allowed at the school.”
The family reports that the school originally told them nothing would change because they were the only parents that complained. Of course, it’s unknown if any other parents are aware of what types of games are being played at the school.
-Reporting from San Diego, GamePolitics Correspondent Andrew Eisen
Comments
Re: Special Needs School Rewards Students With Violent ...
Quoting my comment at Kotaku:
I'm not going to assign blame as I don't think the school did wrong here. The fact that they are constantly trying to reach out to the kids and engage them with things they enjoy should be lauded. They should not be condemned for one attempt that failed.
Re: Special Needs School Rewards Students With Violent ...
You make it sound like one parent raising a fuss about one game made the school remove the entire incentive and rewards program. I haven't seen that reported anywhere. In fact, I haven't seen a change of any kind reported anywhere, just second-hand information that the Assistant Superintendent told the parents on the phone that "violent video games would no longer be allowed at the school."
Andrew Eisen
Re: Special Needs School Rewards Students With Violent ...
Arnold Schwarzeneggar is Jack Howizter as Tim in "Special Needs Cop 2!" (This film cannot be rated)
Re: Special Needs School Rewards Students With Violent ...
Am I wrong to be wary of the supposition that "Special Needs" kids are ones who are more apt to act out violence in games? I thought that the definition also included physical and neurological handicaps that don't always involve emotional issues.
Re: Special Needs School Rewards Students With Violent ...
From the source article:
"Games such as “Call of Duty 4”and “Modern Warfare”, which are rated “M” for mature are some of the games that one parent says the students would play."
Note to CBS: "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" is one game not two. Also, I could be mistaken but I believe the footage you're using in your video is of "Medal of Honor." The pic in your article is of "Call of Duty: Black Ops."
EDIT: Looking at the video again, I think it's a mix of footage, some of which is from Modern Warfare.
Andrew Eisen
Re: Special Needs School Rewards Students With Violent ...
lol, I can't believe CBS mistook a colon for a comma
岩「if Phyllis Schlafly wants to undo Women's Rights, she should lead by example and get back in the kitchen」
岩「…」
Re: Special Needs School Rewards Students With Violent ...
At least they are making progress. Just a few years ago (no more than 5), every story about violent games seemed to use Mortal Kombat 1 and Duke Nukem stock footage for their stories.
I bet they even remember to rewind their Nintendo tapes.
Re: Special Needs School Rewards Students With Violent ...
"Just a few years ago (no more than 5), every story about violent games seemed to use Mortal Kombat 1 and Duke Nukem stock footage for their stories."
Yeah, now they've graduated to mentioning Postal 2 over and over again instead.
Re: Special Needs School Rewards Students With Violent ...
Ah, go easy on CBS. It's not like there's some sort of tool where they could instantly look up game titles to check their work.