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Fathima Cassiere Professor Chris Lamm Project Option # 6 CDES 204 Spring 2013

The Story of Christopher Boone

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A Story to Ponder The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time is a novel by Mark Haddon which depicts a story of a 15 year old boy who is an autistic savant named Christopher Boone. Though he had severe deficits in his social and emotional skills and functioning , he was amazingly gifted with remarkable talents in academics, specially in math and science to a level which other children of his age could not even comprehend. Even though he could easily solve most complicated problems in advance math, he struggled to comprehend simple social language and misinterpreted social cues to a great extent. Because his savant skills in memory, math, and science, he was capable of remembering all the countries of the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7057. He could give a comprehensive description of the galaxy, solar system, universe , and about species of animals. When he heard from his father about his mothers death, he explained him about the types of heart attack an individual could have and causes for it and everything in detail. Further, when given a big number , Christopher could easily tell whether its a prime number or not and he could clearly describe how to do it in step by step. His memory was too sharp, he could remember every single detail of a particular incident or a scene when asked. In an instance, he described how he and his mother spent a particular day at the beach. He could remember the exact date, day, what his mother was wearing, the name and the brand of the cigarettes she was smoking, the color of her towel she was carrying, the name of the novel she was reading, and every single thing they did and talked. He said that his memory even has a smelltrack which was like a soundtrack , that he even could remember how people smelled in that scene. He was so strong in his math skill, with special permission of the school at the age of 15 he had sit for the A level math and passed with an A grade, which he supposed to take only at the age of 18.

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Though Christopher has been a savant in those particular areas, he showed severe deficits in his social and emotional functioning which is a major characteristic of an individual with autism. He was so reluctant to be in places where there were lots of people. During his run away to London to be with her mother, Christopher was having a hard time in coping up with his emotions. He suffered a lot at the railway station and in the train because of the heavy crowd that he encountered . He had to cover his ears, close his eyes, and had to groan for hours to calm himself down. At the same time he had to do some hard math problems mentally to get calm and to get his head clear to think that what he should do next. In addition to that, he never liked to be touched by others, even by his parents. The only physical contact he allowed with the parents was a special hand gesture which their fingers and thumbs touch each other. For the simple reason of touching him, he assaulted his father, mother, classmates, and some policemen in several instances. Further, he wanted to avoid eye contact with other people, another autistic like behavior of him. Christopher preferred to be alone in covered places too. He said that it made him feel safe. Another problem related to Christopher was his impaired communication skill. Because of his lack of communicative intent he was finding very difficult to understand what other people say and what they mean when they say something. He often confused with his conversations with his father. For an example, he couldnt understand a simple joke that his father said and often it made him confuse. He couldnt figure out what father meant when he said stay out of other peoples business. In addition to that, because of his problems with pragmatics, Christopher couldnt engage in proper conversations with others. He found it difficult to respond properly to other peoples statements or questions. His conversations with

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the policemen, Mrs. Alexander , and the conversation he had with Shioban about metaphors were some of the examples of his problems with pragmatics. Another autistic-like characteristic Christopher displayed was his hypersensitivity to sounds, loud voices, smells, and colors. Christopher couldnt tolerate the loud noises when his parents argued with each other. He would turn on the radio and tuned between two stations and turned the volume really high which he called white noise, so he couldnt hear their voices. At the railway station on his way to London, because of the too much noises around him, he had to cover his ears, eyes, and groan for a time of five hours to calm himself down. Further, he refused any thing with the color of yellow and brown. When his fathers friend brought Gobi Aloo Sag- an Indian food that Christopher liked, because it was yellow in color he put red food coloring into it before eat them. In the same way he had very strong sensitivity to smells too. Moreover, Christopher was experiencing synaesthesia as with some individuals with autism, which is a state of neurological mixing of senses. Christopher often decided whether its a black day, which means a bad day or a super good day in his life, by counting the number of red cars and yellow cars that he saw in the road . As many people with autism, Christopher also had stereotyped motor and verbal behaviors which he frequently engaged. When he got upset he would start to groan. To cover up other loud noises around him he would start to groan too. When someone touched him he would start to scream. These behaviors were very common for Christopher as with some individuals with autism. Further, when he was frightened or angry he used to do something that has a rhythm such as drumming or music. At the railway station , as he was frighten to move about, he mentally pictured a big red line across the floor and walked along that saying, Left, right, left, right, left, until he reach to the destination. Moreover, as many people with autism,

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Christopher did not like changes in his environment or routine and preferred the sameness and order. In an instance, Christopher explained how he get upset when someone move the furniture in his home. When his mother was vacuuming the house, Christopher used make a special plan where all the furniture meant to be and did measurements and put everything back in its proper place, so it made him feel better. In addition to that, Christopher also had weak central coherence. Most of the time instead of seeing or understanding a meaningful whole picture, he only saw the parts or details of it. When the policeman taken Christopher to the police station , he didnt worried about being in the jail, but fascinated about how the police cell being built almost to a perfect cube and how it had been designed for prisoners. Further, Christopher lacked theory of mind. He couldnt take perspective of other people and failed to understand their intentions, feelings, beliefs, and desires. Most of the time he couldnt understand what his mothers and his fathers feelings, intentions and desires were when he was interacting with them. At the railway station , while a train was approaching Christopher was trying to catch his rat Toby on the rails. A man saw this and he grabbed Christopher to save him from the train. But Christopher couldnt understand what the mans intention was , so he screamed and made a big fuss. In the same way, when he was looking for a road map at the station, a vendor handed him a book and said, Two ninety-five. But, Christopher couldnt understand what the vendors intention was, that he wanted to sell the book for him, it made the vendor irritated and annoyed. Primarily reading the chapter Learners with Autism Spectrum Disorders in the text , helped me largely to understand Christophers world and to feel the story. The main criteria associated in the definition of this disorder as presented in the text were depicted clearly in the character of Christopher. The significant, persistent deficits in social communication and

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interaction such as deficits in nonverbal and verbal communication for social interactions, lack of social reciprocity, failure to develop and maintain peer relationships were apparent in Christophers character. Further, restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviors, interests and activities, unusual sensory behaviors, and excessive adherence to routines and ritualized patterns of behaviors can be seen throughout the novel in Christophers character. In addition to that, psychological and behavioral characteristics of a person with autism spectrum disorder were evident in Christophers character. Notably, impaired social interactions, lack of communicative intent, lack of joint attention, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, having astonishing savant skills, and abnormal sensory perceptions were immensely portrayed through Christopher. Further, in connection to educational consideration for Christopher, the novel unfolds some of the intervention strategies which might use as in actual situations. At the beginning of the story, Christopher talked about the pictures that Shioban introduced him. It portrays that the special education teacher Shioban uses augmentative and alternative communication systems such as the Picture Exchange Communicative System to support Christophers communication need. Further, there were evidence that Christopher was receiving a combination of Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) and Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support (PBIS) to manage his behavioral challenges. His special education teacher telling him to do something that has a rhythm like drumming or music when he is frightened or angry and asking him to pay attention to the air he breath and how fast to breath explains about the strategies she used on Christopher. Moreover, Christophers explanation of Shioban telling him what exactly hes allowed to do and what not to do, describe that he was getting Direct Instruction from his teacher, another intervention strategy which uses on individual with autism.

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After reading the story, I believe even though Christopher would have to face many challenges in his life, he would have a successful future despite of his disability. As he has a strong family support , intensive and explicit instructions, and structured positive behavioral support, Christopher may be able to achieve his goal- to go to university, to get a First Class Honor degree, and to be a scientist. Most importantly, he has determination, will power, and to a certain extend coping skills as well . His encounters during his journey to London to meet his mother, his persistence effort to solve the mystery of Wellington, and his extraordinary perseverance to sit for the A level math exam were predictors of his success in future. Reading the novel and the text book and comparing and contrasting both at same time, helped me to understand and explore about these exceptional learners comprehensively. Even though individuals with autism spectrum disorders have enormous challenges to face in their life to reach their full potential, there is a positive hope for those individuals, their parents and others who anticipate improvements , because of the researches, findings, strategies, and approaches in the field. Specially, by considering the severity of the disorder, if a person with autism receives an intensive, explicit instructions in social and academics, relentless and structured positive behavioral support, and interventions for skill acquisition and communication, he or she can achieve success in life regardless of his or her disability. Family involvement is indispensable in this regard. Parental and family support along with professional interventions can bring success into the life of a person with autism spectrum disorder. Further, if the society too can change their perceptions and reactions positively towards these individuals, there can be a more success stories to hear from them. Most importantly, identifying the strengths of a person with the disability is more important than anything, because that strength can be used to overcome or successfully manage their weaknesses when

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guiding to achieve their full potential. Finally, perseverance to overcome the challenges by everyone who involved with these special individuals is imperative.