A brilliant book written by Mark Hayden that became a bestseller and won both the White Bread Book of the Year and the White Bread Novel Award. It was said that Mark Haddon himself exclaimed, “Who on Earth would want to read about a fifteen-year-old boy with a disability?,” while he was making this book. Little did he know that this was exactly the same 15-year-old boy with a disability who made his book stand out, won awards and became a bestseller. The book is called, “The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night and the boy is Christopher.”
Christopher is an autistic-savant. He can also name all the countries of the world and their capitals. He knows how to do photography or he is good in math and science. Despite his extraordinary intelligence, he cannot imagine, cannot comprehend speech statistics, and is concerned with jokes. He does not like to go outside places with a lot of people and people touching him. People with autistic syndromes show similar characteristics in people with autism and saunt syndrome. Autism is a disorder that is affecting more people. This condition is mainly characterized by impairment in socialization, in imagination and in communication. Sawant syndrome is characterized by very low general intelligence but abnormally narrow intelligence usually occurs in the fields of mathematics, music, art and memorization.
In the story, Christopher’s parents are separated. Christopher's mother decided to leave him and his father because she could no longer cope with the demands of having an autistic child. Parents who take care of that children such as those with autism may probably have to face a higher stress level compared to most parents. The main reason for this is that their children have special demands, unusual behaviors and different abilities compared to other children of the same age. These children will have difficulty communicating as a result of such abnormal reactions. An example of this is when an autistic child cries for no reason and starts killing 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 either too sensitive or too sensitive to touch, movement and sound. They will show some behaviors that are sometimes difficult to understand, such as avoiding certain types of food, clicking or hitting, moving repeatedly and screaming. Some of them may even show strict adherence to routines and fear of new places or people. Meeting the needs of these children and dealing with their behavior is not easy and can lead to a lot of stress.
Autism can greatly limit a child’s world. They thrive on security and should stay away from anything they see as a threat to their security. However, many factors, circumstances and demands of society make them insecure and being forced to deal with them makes them restless most of the time. Unconsciously and unintentionally, children with autism experience constant anxiety about anything that is new or understandable to them. Just like in the book, when Christopher had to move out of the area he was familiar with, he felt sick and scared. Unlike most children, people with autism do not adapt easily to new conditions. The process of learning to understand things that were previously unknown to them results in high levels 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. Some methods, such as cognitive behavior modification, behavioral change techniques, and climate change techniques, have been shown to be effective in changing inappropriate behaviors and improving the learning skills of children with autism. Some complications, other than autism, may require additional treatment as advised by doctors. Autistic children who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder due to their unhappiness and self-defeating behaviors may need more treatment than previously mentioned. Consulting a psychiatrist is highly advisable in this situation and other medications may be prescribed.
Christopher’s story ended with him being able to overcome challenges that have caused him too much anxiety and his mother deciding to return to take care of him. Just as in this mythical novel, in real life the same can be achieved in dealing with stress and anxiety in families who need to deal with situations. With proper management, medication or treatment, stress and anxiety in parents and autistic children can be effectively relieved.
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