Mark Hayden wrote a brilliant book that became a bestseller and won both the Whitbread Book of the Year and Whitbread Novel awards. Mark Hayden himself was said to have said, "Who on earth would want to read about a fifteen-year-old crippled boy?", when he was writing this book. Little did he know that it was the very same fifteen-year-old disabled boy who made his book stand out, win awards and become a bestseller. The book is called, "The Strange Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and the Boy Christopher."
Christopher is an autistic savant. He can name all the countries of the world and their capitals. He has a photographic memory and intelligence in math and science. Despite his extraordinary intelligence, he cannot visualize, understand figures of speech and is concerned with jokes. He also does not like places where there are many people and people touching him. People who are autistic savants share characteristics of both autism and savant syndrome. Autism is one of the developmental disorders in the group of spectrum disorders. This condition is mainly characterized by impairment in social, cognitive and communication. Savant syndrome is characterized by low general intelligence but abnormally narrow intelligence in the areas of math, music, art, and memorization.
In the story, Christopher's parents are separated. His mother decides to leave Christopher and his father because she can no longer cope with the demands of raising an autistic child. Parents who care for special children such as those with autism may have higher stress levels than most parents. This is mainly because their children have special needs, unusual behaviors and different abilities compared to other children of the same age. These children will have difficulty communicating, thus, resulting in abnormal responses. An example of this is when an autistic child cries for no reason and starts hitting himself. Most likely, something is bothering him but he can't tell what it is because he doesn't know how. Some autistic children with sensory integration problems may be hypersensitive or hyposensitive to touch, pressure, movement, and sound. They will show behaviors that are sometimes difficult to understand such as avoiding certain foods, pinching or hitting, repetitive movements and screaming. Some of them may also show strict adherence to certain routines and fear of new places or people. Meeting the needs of these children and dealing with their behavior is not easy and can cause a lot of stress.
Autism can greatly limit a child's world. They thrive on security and anything they perceive as a threat to their security should be avoided. However, many factors, situations and society's demands make them insecure and being forced to deal with them makes them uncomfortable most of the time. Unconsciously and involuntarily, children with autism have a constant sense of anxiety about anything that is new or foreign to their understanding. Just like in the book, when Christopher has to go outside of an area of the city that is familiar to him, he feels physically ill and scared. Unlike most children, people with autism do not adapt easily to new environments or situations. The process of learning to understand and accept things that were previously unknown to them results in high levels of anxiety.
Although adapting and coping with autistic children seems to be a difficult task, much has already been read and published regarding proper management that will not only reduce the distress of the children but also of their parents. It will also reduce stress. Some methods such as cognitive behavior modification, behavior modification techniques and environmental modification techniques have been shown to be effective in changing inappropriate behaviors and improving learning skills of children with autism. Some, other complex conditions other than autism, may require additional treatment as advised by doctors. Autistic children who experience manic depression due to their unhappiness due to being involuntarily stuck in their protective behaviors may need more treatment than previously mentioned. In this situation it is highly advisable to consult a psychiatrist and other medications may be prescribed.
Christopher's story ends with him being able to overcome the challenges that caused him so much trouble and his mother deciding to return to care for him. Just like in this fictional novel, real life can be achieved in dealing with stress and anxiety among families who need to deal with situations. Stress and anxiety in parents and autistic children can be effectively managed through proper management, medication or therapy.
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