Englisch » Autism

Hab leider nur noch das auf meinem PC gefunden:

Summary of the book „The curious incident of the dog in the night-time“
page 1 until page 153

Christopher Boone is a15 years old boy who has a form of autism. Therefore he visists a school
for children with special needs.
Christopher lives alone with his father, Ed Boone, who is a heating engineer.
About his mother, Judy Boone, Christopher has been told by his father that she has died of an heart attack.
One day Christopher discovers the dead body of Wellington, the poodle of Mrs. Shears who is the neighbour of Christopher and his father. Because the police and Mrs. Shears suspect Christopher to be the murderer of the dog, he decides to investigate the case and to write a book about his discoveries.
Christopher`s father wants Christopher to keep his nose out of other people`s business and so when he finds out that Christopher works as a detective and writes down his discoveries he is very angry. Christopher and his father have an argument and Christopher´s father takes the book away from his son to hide it.
In his search for the hidden book Christopher finds a multitude of letters to himself from his mother. In the letters Christopher`s mother describes why she has left his son and his husband with Roger Shears. During reading the letters Christopher comprehends that his mother is still alive and his father has told him a great lie.
Christopher is really shocked by this fact and when his father returns back from two emergencies he finds his son in a horrible condition. When Christopher´s father realises that Christopher has find out the true about his mother he has a bad consience. He tells Chrisopher why he has told him such a lie and he also confesses him that he has killed Wellington because of his anger about Mrs. Shears.
After that confession Christopher makes the decision to leave his father. The reasons are that he has the feeling that he could not trust his father any more and that he has the fear that his father also could kill him.

/bump... hat vielleicht jemand etwas über "Rainman"? hab davon leider nix mehr.

ich auch nicht, hab schon geguckt ich hab allgemein nicht wirklich mehr als du -.-

Why is living with an autistic child a true challenge?

In the internet I read this statement about autism: “Autism is a way of being; it colors every experience, every sensation, perception, thought, emotion, and encouster, every aspect of existence”.
I think this decleration about autism explains everything.
For parents it certainly is a shock when they hear that their child has autism.
Autism is a handicap and for parents it is diffult to accept that their child is different.
I am absolutely certain that when parents get a child they have ideas about their life with their child and I am sure the greatest problem for them is the retirement of their dreams.
Often they need a long time to manage the new situation.
To have a child with autism means that certain difficulties must be overcome.
A child with autism doesn´t behave like any other guy. It lives in his own world.
A child with autism has a own way to think about things and own explanations about the coherences of things. Parents and other people often are not able to understand this way of thinking.
Different also are the feelings of a child with this handicap. So for parents perhaps every situation is a new challenge because often parents can’t foresee the reaction of the child.
A child with autism has special needs and needs different services. Therefore such a child needs an institution for children with special needs. But for parents it often is not so easy to find such an institution. I am sure that it is easier to solve this problem for families who live in the city than for families who live in the country.
In consequence of the unusual behaviours of their child for such families it often is not easy to have contact with families with healthy children.
A child with autism often doesn ´t like to be touched and so when somebody touches such a child must calculate with resitance. But for somebody who doesn´t know anything about this handicap this behaviour is a great problem.
A great problem for parents also often is that their child has problems to talk with them. Sometimes children with autism do not speak anything and those who speak do not look in your eyes when you talk to them. Parents so often have really a problem to come in contact with their child.
Also very difficult is the fact that a child with autism has great problems when things changes.
That means for parents also great stress.
I am of the opinion that for people with a child who has autism it is really necessary to look for places where they can get good informations about this handicap. Perhaps it also could help to meet other families who have this destiny.
For my taste, to live with an autistic child is a great challenge because this handicap of a child influences the whole daily life of a family. The book “The curious incident of the dog in the night-time” shows that very clearly.

Rain Man war mein Referat ich kann schauen was noch da ist

naja, dein Handout hab ich noch, aber ich weiß nicht, ob das reicht.

RAIN MAN

Summary:
Charlie Babbit is a very handsome and selfish young man in his midtwenties. He deals with cars and is about to make a huge deal with luxury cars. But soon Charlie finds out, that his father, Sanford Babbitt has died.This news don’t bother Charlie really, because he had no emotional connection to his father, but there was one interesting thing about his fathers death: the inheritance.
Unfortunatly his father handed his 3 Mio Dollars down to an unknown trustee who should save it for an unknown benficary. After some outburts of rage, he wants to find out who the trustee is. Charlie himself gets only the “goddamn rosebushes and a used car.” The car is a 1949er Buick Roadmaster, which Charlie wanted to drive, when he was a young boy, but his father did not allow it. So Charlie stole the keys and drove away, but his father told the police, that his car was stolen instead of telling them, that his son had taken it. So Charlie had to spend two days in prison. After that incident he moved out and never saw his father again.
In order to find out who the unknown trustee is, Charlie goes to a bank and flirts with the asissant, who tells him that the trustee was Dr. Bruner, the head of Walbrook Institute.
At first Dr. Bruner refuses to tell Chralie who the beneficary is…
When Charlie returns to his car, where Susanna waits for him, a strange looking man is sitting in the car, talking weird things. He tells them, that this car was his father’s and his fathers name was Sanford Babbitt and his mother’s name was Elenor Babbitt and he also knows the adress. That’s how Charlie finds out about his brother, whom his father sent to the institute, when Charlie was a little kid. Charlie notices, that the three million dollars Raymond now ownes do not mean anything to him, because his an autistic savant. That means, that Raymond has special needs and abilities, like making many lists, being a mathematical genius, remembering every little detail he had ever seen, but also negative things like, beeing unable to live in any relationships, not understanding what normal people say, unability to discuss, getting into a state of fear by the smallest deviation of his daily routines etc. etc.
But Charlie doesn’t matter and takes Raymond with him and Susanna.. actually kidnapping him to start a custody battle in his own city so that he would be the one to look after the money. Of course he does not tell Susanna about the three million dollars.
The first problem Charlie ist confronted with is when they check in a hotel and Raymond starts screaming because the bed is not staying in its right place. He keeps on screaming until the bed is in its right place again.
Late at night Raymond disturbes Susanna and Charlie during they’re making love. Charlie starts shouting at him and Susanna is so upset about his egoistic behavior, that she leaves. The next day Charlie wants to fly to Carlifornia, but Raymond refuses entering any airplane of an airline, which had an crash already and there is actually just one airline which had no chrash: Quanton, flying from Melbourne.
Chalrie has no other possibility than forcing Raymond to fly with the airplane, but he starts screaming again and does not stop, until Charlie promises him that they would drive with the car.
So the long road trip begins. Somehow or other Charlie is forced to face Raymonds special behavior and his necessities.



Some funny incidents during the road trip:
At a restaurant Raymond mentions the waitress’ name and phone number and the waitress gets really scared until Charlie explains that Raymond isn’t a bad person. Then she drops a box of toothpicks and Raymond counts at the same moment how many they were.
One day it begins to rain and Raymond insists on staying at the hotel and watching TV. And so they do…
Some other time Raymond forces Charlie to ask a stranger if they may be allowed to watch “The people’s court” with them, because its one of Raymonds routins, but at first he tries to trick the houswife..
After some time they stop at a motel to spend the night and while Raymond is brushing his teeth he Charlie hears him say “funny Rain Man”. In that moment Charlie realizes who Raymond Babitt is: His Rain Man. He always thought that Rain Man was a imaginary friend, but know he knows that he was his brother. As a little child Charlie did not manage to say “Raymond” it just sounded like “Rain Man”. Than Raymond showes him a photo from himself, as an eighteen- year- old and little Charlie next to him and start to sing “I saw her standing there” like he did in the past. Charlie also finds out, that Sanford Babbitt sent Raymond to the institution a few days after their mother died, because he wasn’t able to look after Raymond on his own. Again he feels very angry with his father.
A few days later Charlie gets a phone call from his partner. The deal had been canceled and now he owes the investors 80000 dollars, which he has not got. That’s why he decides to use Raymond’s savant abilities to get some money: They go to Las Vegas. Arriving in Las Vegas both get new image and Raymond gambles for his brother and earns a lot of money by playing black jack. The same evening Susanna returns and Charlie teaches Raymond how to dance, because he would have a date, but his date does not come, so he dances with Susanna and she kisses him, what he describes as “very wet”. After the casino manager tells Charlie to leave LA and never to come back.
In the end Charlie and Raymond have to meet Dr. Bruner and another psychatrist because Charlie wants to get custody of his brother. The frist time in his life Charlie seemes to be ready to fight for another one, though himself. Some one he really loves. Dr. Bruner offers him 250000 dollars, but Charlie isn’t interessted in the money anymore. He just wants to be with his Rain Man. He has no doubt that he could heal his brother and the doctors try to explain that this is impossible. In the end Charlie has to give up, because Dr. Bruner forced Raymond to take a decision and he will return to Walbrook. But there is one detail Dr. Bruner already noticed, but Charlie doesn’t: During the debate Raymond had lied for his brother.

I really enjoyed reading this book. At first you think that Raymond will be the main character but soon you realize that Charlie is the one who needs helpt. Althogh Charlie wanted to heal Raymond, Raymond healed Charlie in a very nice way. A selfish man whos thoughts were focused on money turned into a very emotional, patient and responsible man. Besides that Raymond himself is a very interesting character. But I can not imagine how it must be to live wthout any feelings besides fear. Can we call him a human being? Or is he something completely different? I really don’t know..






Some funny scenes:

After Susanna had kissed him:
Susanna: How was that?
Raymond: Wet

- - -

Susanna: You use me, you use Raymond, you use everybody!
Charlie: Using Raymond? Hey Raymond, am I using you? Am I using you Raymond?
Raymond: Yeah.
Charlie: Shut up! He is answering a question from a half hour ago!

- - -

Raymond: Gotta get my boxer shorts at K-Mart.
Charlie: [Pulls over, gets out of the car and yells] I'm going out of my mind! Out of my mind! WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE WHERE YOU BUY UNDERWEAR? WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE? UNDERWEAR IS UNDERWEAR! IT IS UNDERWEAR WHEREVER YOU BUY IT! IN CINCINNATI OR WHEREVER!
Raymond: K-Mart!
Charlie: You know what I think, Ray? I think this autism is a bunch of shit! Because you can't tell me that you're not in there somewhere!
Raymond: Boxer shorts. K-Mart!

- - -

Dr. Bruner: Wouldn't you be more comfortable in your k-mart clothes Raymond?
Charlie: Tell him Raymond.
Raymond: K-mart sucks.

Autism:

Autism affects many parts of the brain; how this occurs is not understood. Parents usually notice signs in the first two years of their child's life. Although early behavioral or cognitive intervention can help children gain self-care, social, and communication skills, there is no known cure. Not many children with autism live independently after reaching adulthood, though some become successful, and an autistic culture has developed, with some seeking a cure and others believing autism should be tolerated as a difference and not treated as a disorder.





Social development:

Unusual social development becomes apparent early in childhood. Autistic infants show less attention to social stimuli, smile and look at others less often, and respond less to their own name. Autistic toddlers have more striking social deviance; for example, they have less eye contact and anticipatory postures and are more likely to communicate by manipulating another person's hand. Three- to five-year-old autistic children are less likely to exhibit social understanding, approach others spontaneously, imitate and respond to emotions, communicate nonverbally, and take turns with others. However, they do form attachments to their primary caregivers. They display moderately less attachment security than usual, although this feature disappears in children with higher mental development or less severe ASD. Older children and adults with ASD perform worse on tests of face and emotion recognition.





Communication:

About a third to a half of individuals with autism do not develop enough natural speech to meet their daily communication needs. Differences in communication may be present from the first year of life, and may include delayed onset of babbling, unusual gestures, diminished responsiveness, and vocal patterns that are not synchronized with the caregiver. In the second and third years, autistic children have less frequent and less diverse babbling, consonants, words, and word combinations; their gestures are less often integrated with words. Autistic children are less likely to make requests or share experiences, and are more likely to simply repeat others' words (echolalia) or reverse pronouns. Joint attention seems to be necessary for functional speech, and deficits in joint attention seem to distinguish infants with ASD: for example, they may look at a pointing hand instead of the pointed-at object, and they consistently fail to point at objects in order to comment on or share an experience. Autistic children may have difficulty with imaginative play and with developing symbols into language.

Merzi Berni.

Werd mir das gleich mal ausdrucken.

und au recevoir, bin mal wieder off

About living with autistic children:

Children with autism are LESS likely to misbehave intentionally than typical children. Their apparent bad behaviors -- such as bolting from the room, whacking a peer, refusing to take part in circle time, climbing the fridge -- are often caused by external problems that can be solved by calm, creative parents. These hints and tips, provided in part by About.com readers, may make for a calmer family life.
1) Know Your Child
Few autistic children are intentionally "bad." Many have difficult behaviors. So what's going on? Each child is different, and knowing your own child is key to taking action. Is your child extra-sensitive to sound and light? Does she need lots of sensory input? Is he likely to misunderstand a close approach? The more you know, the easier it is to troubleshoot a situation.
2) Modify Your Expectations
Your mother may have expected you to sit still through a full dinner hour. But that's not a reasonable expectation for most children with autism. Consider starting with a smaller goal -- sitting still for three minutes, eating with a fork, or whatever you think he can handle -- and building toward the larger goal of sitting through a full meal.
3) Modify the Environment
Safety is key. And for autistic children, creating a safe environment is a challenge. Since so many of your child's behaviors may have the potential to be dangerous, it's important to take precautions such as bolting shelves to the walls and floor, putting a dead bolt on the front door, and latching cabinets securely. One About.com reader even put plexiglass on the fronts of bookshelves to keep her child from climbing.
4) Consider the Possible Sources of the Behavior
Many children on the autism spectrum either crave or over-respond to sensory input. Some alternate between the two extremes. Very often, "bad" behavior is actually a reaction to too much or too little sensory input. By carefully observing your child, you may be able to figure out what's setting him off.
5) Remove Overwhelming Sensory Input
If your child is over-reacting to sensory input, there are many ways to change the situation. Of course, the first option is to simply avoid overwhelming sensory settings such as parades, amusement parks and the like. When that's not an option, consider ear plugs, distracting sensory toys, or plain old bribery to get through difficult moments.
6) Provide Sensory Input
If your child is crashing into couches, climbing the walls or spinning in circles, chances are she's craving sensory input. You can provide that in any number of more appropriate ways. Some people recommend bear hugs; other suggest squeezing youngsters between sofa cushions, rolling them up like "hot dogs" in blankets, or providing them with weighted vests or quilts.
7) Look for Positive Outlets for Unusual Behaviors
While climbing the entertainment center may be "bad" behavior, climbing at a rock gym can be a great way to build muscles and friendships at the same time. While spinning at the grocery store may be odd, it's ok to twirl on a tire swing. What's a problem in one place may be a virtue in another!
8) Enjoy Your Child's Successes
We were the only parents on the block to cheer at our son's first intentional fib. We're thrilled when he says "yes" to a playdate, completes a full sentence, or kicks a ball back and forth a few times. He's not likely to captain the soccer team -- but he is successfully becoming himself.
9) Worry Less About Others' Opinions
Your child is really doing a fine job in the grocery store. He may be flapping a bit, but it's no big deal. Until you catch the eye of the mom with the perfect little girl -- staring at your son. Suddenly his flapping seems like a very big deal, and you find yourself snapping at your son to "just put his hands down!" It's not easy, but it's important to remember that he's autistic -- not intentionally embarrassing!
10) Find Ways to Have Fun Together
It's not always easy to associate autism and fun. But if you think about it, rolling your child up like a hot dog, bouncing on a trampoline or even sitting and cuddling together can be a lot of fun. Instead of worrying about the therapeutic value of each action, try just enjoying the silliness, the tickling, the cuddling...and the child. At least for a little while!