Living With Christopher

Mark Haddon wrote a wonderful book that became a bestseller and won the Whitbread Book of the Year and Whitbread Novel awards. Mark Haddon himself said while writing this book, "Who the hell wants to read a story about a 15-year-old boy with a disability?" He didn't know it was the 15-year-old boy with a disability that made his book stand out, win an award, and become a bestseller. The title of the book is "The Mysterious Incident that Happened to Christopher the Name of the Dog and the Boy in the Midnight".

Christopher is autistic. He can name all countries and capitals of the world. He has a photographic memory and a genius for math and science. Despite his extraordinary intelligence, he cannot imagine, understand analogies, or joke. He also hates crowded and touched places. The autistic avant-garde has something in common with people with autism and savant syndrome. Autism is one of the developmental disorders among the group of autism spectrum disorders. This condition is primarily characterized by impairments in socialization, imagination, and communication. Savant's syndrome is usually characterized by very low general intelligence in the domains of math, music, art, and memory, but an unusually narrow intelligence.
In the
story, Christopher's parents break up. Because his mother could no longer afford the demands of Christopher and his father to give birth to a child with autism, she decided to leave him.
Parents caring for children with special needs, such as children with autism, are more likely to experience higher levels of stress than most parents. This is mainly because their children have special needs, unusual behaviors and other abilities compared to other children of their age. These children are more likely to have communication difficulties and have unusual reactions. An example of this is when a child with autism starts crying and beating herself for no apparent reason. Perhaps something upset him, but he can't convey what exactly, because he doesn't know how to do it. Some autistic children with sensory integration problems may be hypersensitive or hypersensitive to touch, pressure, movement, and sound. Avoiding certain types of food and drinks, or exhibiting certain behaviors that are sometimes difficult to understand, such as pinching or hitting, repetitive movements, or screaming. Some of them have a strong preoccupation with certain routines and may be afraid of new places or people. Adapting to these children's needs and coping with their behavior can be stressful.

Autism can severely limit a child's world. They thrive in security and should avoid anything they consider to be a threat to security. However, many factors, circumstances, and social demands make them very anxious and most of the time they have to deal with it. Subconsciously and unconsciously, children with autism experience constant anxiety about everything they do not understand or about everything they do not understand. As in the book, Christopher was physically ill and afraid when he had to leave the area of ​​the city he knew. Unlike most children, people with autism do not adapt easily to new environments or situations.
The process of learning to understand and accept what is previously unknown to them results to a higher level of anxiety.
4444 Despite what seems to be a difficult task of adapting and coping with autistic children, a lot has already been studied and published regarding proper management that will not only lessen the children’s anxiety but also their parents’ stress. Certain methods such as Cognitive Behavior Modification, Behavior Modification Techniques and Environmental Modification Techniques had been proven effective in changing the inappropriate behaviors and improving the learning skills of children with autism. Some, having compounding conditions other than autism, may need additional treatment as advised by the doctors. Autistic children who also have manic depression due to their unhappiness with being involuntarily trapped in their selfprotecting behaviors may need more therapy than what was mentioned earlier. The process of learning to understand and accept what is previously unknown to them results to a higher level of anxiety.

Despite what seems to be a difficult task of adapting and coping with autistic children, a lot has already been studied and published regarding proper management that will not only lessen the children’s anxiety but also their parents’ stress. Certain methods such as Cognitive Behavior Modification, Behavior Modification Techniques and Environmental Modification Techniques had been proven effective in changing the inappropriate behaviors and improving the learning skills of children with autism. Some, having compounding conditions other than autism, may need additional treatment as advised by the doctors. Autistic children who also have manic depression due to their unhappiness with being involuntarily trapped in their selfprotecting behaviors may need more therapy than what was mentioned earlier. Consultation with a psychiatrist is highly recommended in these situations, and other medications may be prescribed.

Christopher's story ended when he was able to overcome the difficulties that made him so uneasy, and his mother decided to return to care for him. The same can be achieved in real life in terms of dealing with the stress and anxiety among families who have to deal with these situations as in this fictional novel. With proper care, medications, or treatment, stress and anxiety in parents and children with autism can be effectively managed.