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 exclaimed when making this book, "Who on earth would want to read about a fifteen-year-old crippled boy?" said that Little did he know that it was precisely a fifteen-year-old disabled boy who made his book stand out, win awards and become a bestseller. The book is called "The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-Time, Boy Christopher." Christopher is an autistic-savant. He can name all the countries and capitals of the world. He has a photographic memory and is gifted in math and science. Despite his extraordinary intelligence, he cannot imagine, understand figures of speech, and relate to jokes. He does not like crowded places and people who touch him. Autistic-savants exhibit two characteristics common to those with autism and those with savant syndrome. Autism is a developmental disorder in the group of autism spectrum disorders. This condition is mainly characterized by impairment in socialization, imagination and communication. Savant syndrome is characterized by very low general intelligence, but abnormally narrow intelligence usually in the areas of mathematics, music, art, and memorization. In the story, Christopher's parents are separated. Unable to cope with the demands of having an autistic child, Christopher's mother decided to abandon him and his father. Parents who care for special children such as those with autism may have higher stress levels than most parents. This is because their children have special needs, unusual behaviors and different abilities compared to other children of the same age. These children may have difficulty communicating and therefore may have unusual reactions. An example of this is when an autistic child cries for no reason and starts hitting himself. Most likely, something has upset him or her, but he or she doesn't know what it is and can't communicate it. Some autistic children with sensory integration problems may be hypersensitive or hyposensitive to touch, pressure, movement, and sound. Avoid certain types of food and drinks, mainly juices, and they may show some behaviors that are difficult to understand, such as pinching or hitting, repetitive movements, and screaming. Some of them can have a strong adherence to certain routines and fear new places or people. Accommodating the needs and behavior of these children is not easy, so it can cause a lot of stress. Autism can limit a child's world. They thrive on security and avoid anything they perceive as a threat to their security. However, such challenging factors, situations and demands of society make them insecure and being forced to deal with these makes them very anxious most of the time. Unknowingly and unknowingly, children with autism experience constant anxiety about anything new or foreign to their understanding. As in the book, when Christopher has to go beyond the area of ​​the town he is familiar with, he feels physically uncomfortable and scared. Unlike most children, those with autism do not adapt easily to new environments or situations. The process of learning to understand and accept what they did not know before leads to high levels of anxiety. Although adapting and coping with autistic children may seem difficult, much has already been learned and published about not only reducing children's anxiety, but also proper management. But also pressure from their parents. 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 in children with autism. For some, complications other than autism may require additional treatment as prescribed by doctors. Children with autism who experience depression due to unhappiness with voluntary protective behaviors may require more therapy than previously mentioned. In such a situation it is best to consult a psychiatrist and other medications may be prescribed. Christopher's story ends with him overcoming the challenges that have caused him so much anxiety and his mother deciding to return to care for him.